The Ultimate Perfection
by teixeira64
Summary: Challenge from dracohalo117. To create the perfect host, Orochimaru imbues Naruto with the power of the Akatsuki. Years later, Naruto will find a new life in the most unlikely of places. And a lot will change from it.
1. Prologue: Beginnings

**Disclamer: Is this really needed? I don't own Naruto. I don't own the general plot for this story either, since it's dracohalo117's, and a few things might be from Arynia's and Thanatos' too.**

**Anyway, on with the story.

* * *

**

Perfect.

Orochimaru had been called many things during his life. Strange, promising, genius, legendary, monster, traitor… But the one thing he sought the most was never said.

He had never achieved 'perfection'.

As a child, he was taken as an apprentice of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. When his parents died, he was basically adopted as a son by him, and vowed he would find a way to not only bring the dead back to life, but also achieve immortality so that no one would suffer like he did. He trained harder than anyone, became known as a sort of genius that appeared once in a generation. He did everything he could to bring his dream come to life, to bring an end to the suffering of the world by destroying the one thing that caused it all: death.

Looking back, it was such a foolish, idealistic view of the world. Something truly deserving of a child.

Years later, he would know first-hand how difficult such a feat was to accomplish.

He experienced war. The Second Great Ninja War impacted greatly his view on his promise. He saw hundreds, thousands of deaths of both enemies and comrades, some were people he knew and were almost friends with. He couldn't help imagining how their families would fare now, how many were losing their relatives in this war. Such thoughts were only intensified when they had to lay siege on smaller ninja villages such as Kusagakure, and even civilian towns. The images of the dead would haunt him whenever he closed his eyes, and he would be tortured by those thoughts whenever he had to kill someone. He didn't how much longer he could remain sane.

Then something happened, that gave the last push he 'needed' to break.

Seeing Tsunade, his female teammate who he considered almost like a sister, break down after the deaths of her brother Nawaki and her lover Dan were the last straw. He didn't care anymore about the lives of his enemies, for him they became undeserving of his worries. They had made people close to him suffer, he would make them suffer too. Orochimaru became almost a killing machine from that point on, until he met his possible nemesis. And someone who would once again change everything he believed on.

Hanzo.

The legendary salamander summoner had defeated an entire squad of Konoha ninja, and only left he, Tsunade and Jiraiya alone. He saw potential on them, and as such labeled them the Legendary Sannin. He also predicted Konoha's victory in this war, and as such removed his village, Amegakure, from the conflict. Although his prediction would come true, Orochimaru didn't see it as a victory. He saw in that fight with Hanzo the true answer to achieve his goals: power. He needed power to bring an end to the suffering, power to bring order, power to bring peace, power to overcome death…

But not everyone could have power, the war having been an example of it. As such, Orochimaru started to change his goals. No more he would bring end to the suffering of the world, but only to Konoha's. He and his comrades would be more than deserving to enjoy such peace, the rest of the world would not be so lucky. Yes, for some to possess happiness other had to suffer; it was the natural way things worked.

And as such, as a way for Konoha to enjoy true peace, Orochimaru's quest for power began.

Looking for the best way to achieve power, he started researching the most famous source of it-and what would later become his biggest obsession: Kekkei Genkai. He would do everything; researching about them, looking into the clans which possessed them, looking into famous wielders of them, finding new ways on how one could use or combat them… They said knowledge was power; however, there was needed something more. Eventually, his interest went away from the theory and started poking in the practice. He longed for the day he would be able to actually research them on the practice. And then, he eventually decided to actually do it. Collecting the necessary material was relatively easy, the problem was to put it actually to use. He needed somewhere to actually test them.

Humans.

It was for the good of Konoha, he reaffirmed to himself. Collecting people from the village, homeless or orphans who no one cared about; they would die anyway, so at least this way they could serve the village. But they weren't fit, the death rates were enormous both because of his lack of medical knowledge-once again, only theory-and the rejection of their bodies to the transplanted material. With time he got used to their deaths, something he never did in times of war; to a point he felt nothing about it. Soon, he saw that mere civilians were unfit for his experiments, and that he needed other kinds of people. Strong people, with strong bodies modeled to endure such activities.

Shinobis.

At first, he was unwilling to use Konoha shinobi. He was trying to save the village and these people, why would he do such things? Instead, he took the opportunity to find ninjas from other villages whenever he was out on missions. Some would just be convinced to join him, others would have to be taken by force. Which opened another question: where would he take them to? He had never told his sensei about his experiments; he would do so when he actually had results. It would be too suspicious to enter Konoha with a group of ninjas following him, or with hostages. As such, he started forming bases around the world, bases where he could make his experiments and where his army-followers, he kept telling himself-would stay without attracting unnecessary attention.

But time changed everything. The contact with those foreign shinobi, as well as his growing neglect towards human life, was slowly taking Orochimaru away from his original goals. He no more wanted power for the village; no longer did he care to alleviate the suffering of those 'close' to him. No, such views were too idealistic, something not worth his time-–maybe someone's like Jiraiya, but not his. The only one that should matter was himself, he would be rid of his own suffering only, he worked this hard and endured so much, _he_ deserved it. So he soon lost the inhibition of going after his own kin. He hunted the Konoha shinobi; initially only low genins and chunins, so as to not attract attention.

His quest, which once was to better the world, became more and more selfish as time passed on. He now cared only for himself; to become perfect.

Then, another war came. The Third Great Ninja War was just as bloody, if not more than the second, but did not have the same impact on him. At it's end, his old sensei revealed he was going to retire from his duty as the Hokage. Orochimaru was the favorite, of course, but in the end he opted for young Minato Namikaze, a shinobi who became a hero during the war. This caused Orochimaru to lose the only bit of consideration he had left for the village, and literally throw precaution away: he started going after jonin and even ANBU. But his sensei discovered it all, and he was forced to flee.

It may have been a mistake. But, to him, this lead to something much more. This lead to where he was now.

* * *

It had been quite some time since he was approached by the messenger of an organization, Akatsuki, who wished to acquire his services. The man itself was quite strange: he had two large Venus flytrap-like extensions enveloping his head and upper body, looking like he was partially plant; but what really got Orochimaru's attention was his ability to seemingly pass through solid matter. Curious about him, and planning to investigate it further, he headed to Amegakure, the very same place where he once fought Hanzo, to meet the organization's leader.

A single glance at him and his followers, and Orochimaru knew he made the right choice. What he saw made the plant-man look like nothing in comparison.

All the members were powerful, famous, S-rank missing-nins. The legendary puppet master, Akasuna no Sasori; the former Swordsman of the Mist and wielder of the Samehada sword, Kisame Hoshigake; the legendary bounty hunter who fought against the Shodai Hokage, Kakuzu of Takigakure… But what really made him jump were the leader, Pain, and his partner. Two orphans he had met in Ame long ago, who had been trained by Jiraiya.

One was a blue-haired woman, Konan, who had the power to manipulate paper; to the extent of turning herself into it. He remembered Jiraiya saying something about her talent with paper, but nothing that big. Though most would scoff at the idea of it being useful, it was actually something intriguing and, in the right hands, extremely potent.

But the other child was the true jewel. More specifically, his eyes. The _Rinnegan_. The ultimate doujutsu, thought to be just a legend… He didn't know what its powers were, but all the hype surrounding it, and the fact that the man had defeated Hanzo thanks to it…

He was partnered with Sasori after entering the organization, though the small number of member caused them to sometimes trade partners. The plan was to gather the bijuu, the mighty Tailed Beasts which had been spread through the countries by the Shodai Hokage long ago, and create a weapon powerful enough to threaten the villages and give them control of the world. But this was the main, final goal; before they went there, they would start by destabilizing the major Hidden Villages. And what better way to do it than by hitting on what sustained them: the economy?

Taking advantage of Kakuzu's 'job', the others would take bounties occasionally; by taking missions from smaller nations, who could not afford the villages, for a low price allowed them to get their confidence and slowly cause the major villages to lose potential jobs; sabotaging the villages missions, resulting in their failures and losing their reliability in the eyes of potential clients… Hell, even Iwagakure would sometimes hire them.

But Orochimaru had a secret agenda himself. He secretly researched their abilities, trying to find ways to replicate them. Sasori was by far the least useful for him; he was strong, he had no doubt he could give him a run for his money, but his abilities relied on puppet techniques. He hadn't really had any interest in them.

Kakuzu had, from what he could tell, a pseudo-immortality technique. His insides were composed of thick, black threads that allowed him to extend his limbs. Not only that, it seemed he could take others organs, allowing him to substitute any damage he suffered! His main power, though, where in his hearts: he could take others hearts, granting him multiple lives and also taking their owner's chakra affinities. Orochimaru was sort of thankful for not having completed his own body-changing technique yet; otherwise, he felt he wouldn't resist the temptation to use it against him.

Kisame, like Sasori, had nothing truly special. His shark-like appearance, his humongous chakra reserves, and his seemingly natural expertise with Water Jutsus were quite impressive, true, but were nothing worth his time. What truly interested Orochimaru was his sword, the Samehada. It was basically a sentient being, able to literally eat chakra and pass it to its user; Kisame never tired and healed exceptionally fast thanks to it. And Orochimaru felt there were more hidden abilities he hadn't seen yet.

But new members would come, with even more interesting abilities.

"So, this is my new partner?"

Currently, all members were gathered on the Akatsuki's headquarters, in Ame, where their leader was presenting a new member. Hidan, from Yugakure, apparently had killed hundreds of people before fleeing his village-which had apparently decided to finish it's service as a hidden village in favor of becoming a touristic point. Orochimaru remembered taking part on a mission to sabotage that village's missions-he faintly wondered if it had anything to do with the village's decision. The man was apparently going to be partnered with Kakuzu, so to 'avoid later replacements'. Could it be that…?

"I don't really see what is special about him. Doesn't look like he could survive longer than the last one." Said Kakuzu, his voice showing his disinterest.

"I assure I will surprise you, Kakuzu-sempai." Said Hidan, a very respectful tone to his voice. He didn't notice the glances traded between Pain and Kisame, nor the large, club-like sword coming in his direction.

For Orochimaru's surprise, the man didn't show any reaction to the attack until the sword sliced-–or rather, shaved-his head off his body. "_What a useles-_"

"Damnit! This fucking hurts!"

For nearly everyone's surprise, the beheaded had started talking and in a rather different manner to the one before. Orochimaru was dumbfounded, looking agape and faintly hearing Pain explain about Hidan, only really paying attention to the explanation on his ability: he was subjected to a cultist ritual which granted him immortality. _Immortality. _Though it seemed it didn't give him regeneration, the fact Kakuzu managed to stitch it back together with no problems or collateral damage to the body functions more than compensated for it; he could see the pair was going to be quite monstrous. But, above everything, a single being with both their abilities would be even better.

Would be immortal. Would be perfect.

* * *

As time passed, he started going a step further in his plans: collecting their genetic material. Most were quite easy, to be honest; Hidan's in special. He wasn't very careful in his battles, and his own attacks normally involved doing self-damage.

Kisame was also very easy. In the few times he got to do mission with the shark-man, he saw how violent that man was. He would pound the opponent with his sword, normally leaving shards of it everywhere. He just had to take the shards and seal them in scrolls.

Kakuzu was also relatively easy. He had his arms cut off quite a few times in battles, some by his partner Hidan which greatly angered Kakuzu, and Orochimaru just had to take and seal the threads in scrolls like he did to Kisame. Apparently, the pseudo-immortal didn't have as much of a connection to the threads after they were cut, so he didn't notice it.

The others were more difficult. Although he really wasn't much interested in Sasori´s puppetry, he found out the man had found a way to make puppets out of human bodies. And, better yet, these 'Human Puppets', like Sasori called them, retained any special abilities they may have had while alive… Such as a Kekkei Genkai. _This _was something that interested Orochimaru. He found the man had detailed the process of doing it, as well as 'secrets' of puppetry, in a scroll he kept hidden in the off-chance he chose someone to pass on his legacy. He just needed to wait the right moment to take it; differently from Sasori, he wouldn't care about waiting a bit more.

In one of Akatsuki's missions, the client had specifically requested Pain's presence. It seemed an easy enough mission to accomplish, he could have passed it to another member, but he and Konan went along. As foolish as this mission was, Orochimaru managed to worm his way into the mission. He had been away for quite a long time, taking care of 'personal things', which angered a bit the leader. He used it as an excuse to accompany him and Konan in this mission; as a way to 'redeem himself in his eyes'.

In the end, it turned out it was a trap by Hanzo's loyalists to avenge their leader. The fight itself was, for the lack of a better word, _boring_. Most of the ninja looked like they were barely jonin-level, some not even chunin. There were a couple good ones, true, but even they were nowhere enough to take on S-rank shinobi. The fight, however, proved to have its value for Orochimaru: during the fighting, he managed to sneak a few sheets of paper from Konan, which she didn't seem to notice, and also got a bit of insight on the leader's abilities.

"**Shinra Tensei!**" Orochimaru managed to get out of range just in time for a powerful shockwave to go crushing through the rather large army. Orochimaru was truly impressed; this was a jutsu? No hand seals, instantaneous, large range, and the destruction caused… It could be compared to a high-level wind jutsu, but even those would probably pale in comparison.

Looking back at Pain, Orochimaru watched in shock as a man rose from the ground behind the Rinnegan-user, who seemed oblivious. With a kunai in hand, the man looked about to kill him from behind…

But, in an ironic twist, a black pole suddenly sprung through the man's chest from behind, instantly killing him. Taking a better look, Orochimaru saw who it was that did it: another man, this one with a long hair the same color as Pain's. Orochimaru's eyes bulged when he saw that the man also shared another characteristic with the Akatsuki leader. "_Another Rinnegan user? How is this possible?_"

Such was his shock at this new development, he didn't notice a man sneaking behind him until it was too late. "Die, worshipper of the fake god!"

In pure reflex, Orochimaru turned around, kunai in hand, and managed to block the man's attack. He faintly noticed the man attacking him was the leader of the now-rebel group, apparently a former higher-up during Hanzo's reign. The two didn't get to continue their clash further, though, as both their eyes widened and pained groans, as well as blood, escaped their mouths the next moment.

Thinking quickly, Orochimaru opened his mouth as far as he could and, with a sound akin to that of someone vomiting, a new body was regurgitated. Once freely out, the now panting Sannin looked back to see his now shed body pierced by a black pole, the pole continuing to impale the rebel Ame-nin as well. On the other end, holding the pole was an unknown man, this one rather stocky. He too shared characteristics with Pain and the other man… including the Rinnegan.

"Don't worry. I knew you would survive that." The stoic voice of Pain took Orochimaru out of his musings, and he looked to see him and the long-haired guy coming in his direction. Looking around he saw the battle was over, Konan taking care of the last few enemies; however, he saw three other people with Akatsuki robes fallen, two with orange hair and in a puddle of blood, obviously dead. Could they also…

"What made you so sure of it?" He looked back at the leader.

"Otherwise, you wouldn't be worthy of being in Akatsuki" The voice came from his side and, surprised, he saw two of the 'dead' guys coming in his direction. His eyes widened and he looked at the third: the man who had impaled him was now on his side, the seemingly dead man now standing up.

Suddenly, something clicked on Orochimaru's mind. That was it, he finally figured out Pain's secret. Those six were most likely dead people, but someone was controlling them. Probably the true Rinnegan wielder. Looking back at the black pole that pierced him, he remembered feeling it affect his chakra—his shedding had never been so chakra exhausting before—and seeing an image, a Rinnegan. Looking again at the six, he saw that they all had piercings that seemed to be made of the same material as the poles. They weren't weapons; they were more like chakra receivers.

"Who are they, Leader-sama?" Orochimaru asked; the answer could confirm his theory.

Pain smirked, the other five copying the action. "We, Orochimaru, are the Six Paths of Pain. We… are God."

God… indeed. The wielder of the legendary Rinnegan could be nothing less in Orochimaru's eyes. But this didn't mean he was a monotheist.

As they left the battlefield, Orochimaru quietly summoned a few small snakes. They would gather the shards of the black poles that remained on the battlefield-–Orochimaru noticed that Pain didn't care about leaving them behind-and take them to somewhere safe. Most likely there remained genetic material of the true Rinnegan wielder in these.

He would make sure that it ended in his hands.

* * *

A few days later Orochimaru returned to the battlefield scene. The amount of material his snakes had managed to collect was rather limited, so he decided to do it himself. However, upon arrival, he noticed that the number of corpses had decreased exceedingly fast. Nearly half of it was gone. Orochimaru frowned. There weren't enough animals on the region that would cause it, as most had migrated to new places thanks to the constant life-threatening conflicts that happened around Amegakure.

Noticing movement in the corner of his eye, Orochimaru looked to find the cause of it.

Zetsu.

The trickiest member and spy of Akatsuki. Orochimaru barely saw him after he had been approached with the proposal to join the organization; mostly in meetings and when he came to communicate Pain's orders. Not only that, but he was the only member he had never heard anything about. Because of it, he never had the opportunity to try and research his abilities or gather his material.

Now was the perfect time to do so. He had heard rumors about Zetsu being a cannibal, so he had an idea what he was doing; apparently, Pain was not as careless as Orochimaru had thought. He needed to remember that from now on.

Taking a few kunai in hand and flowing a bit of wind chakra in them, he threw them at the plant-man when he went for a man's body near a rock. The man took a while to notice the incoming projectiles; when he did, it was too late. Not having enough time to merge with the earth, he tried dodging them; a feat which proved to be too much difficult thanks to his 'appendages'. Multiple kunai pierced his flytraps and stuck them to the wall, a few others make small cut near his face and legs.

Approaching his prey, Orochimaru heard him yell at him. "What do you think you are doing, **Orochimaru?**"

"Oh, it's you Zetsu. My apologies." He said _innocently_, coming closer and starting to remove the kunai.

"What are you doing here? **If you were stalking us, you will be-**"

Zetsu didn't get to finish the sentence, instead groaning in pain as Orochimaru painfully removed another kunai, this time _accidentally_ cutting a strip of flesh from Zetsu's flytrap.

"Kukukuku. Be at rest, Zetsu. I just came here to check if I could save any guinea pigs for my experiments. Though, from what I see, if anything was worth salvaging you already got rid of it, right?"

Zetsu grumbled, passing a hand over his injury. It would eventually grow back the missing flesh, but it hurt a lot.

"If that is what you want, you can search the remaining bodies. **But if you do something like that again, you will die. Got it?**" With that Zetsu slowly sunk back into the earth.

Orochimaru laughed a bit, storing the bloodied kunais and the strip of flesh in a hidden scroll. _"No need to. What I wanted, I got even more."_ Looking down, he began searching a bit. He didn't know if Zetsu had truly left, and maybe he could find more shards.

* * *

"Kisame, he will be your partner. And I already got a mission for you two."

Orochimaru stared at the new recruit in wonder. Itachi Uchiha. He didn't pay much attention to Pain's introduction; he already knew quite a bit about the Uchiha genius from his spies in the village. That he killed the rest of the Uchiha clan, though, was news to the snake. To do so he needed to have been extremely powerful and skilled, maybe even… Suddenly, he remembered something.

During his time studying the Kekkei Genkai in Konoha, the Sharingan had been the one that occupied most of his time. He eventually studied also about Madara Uchiha, the man who took the Sharingan to a whole new level: the Mangekyo Sharingan. For Itachi to have achieved the power he did, he _had _to have achieved such this new stage. Even thinking about it and the advantages it brought…

For the moment, Orochimaru forgot completely about his plans. During a few solo missions he took the chance to visit his bases, specially the one in the Rice Country: he had basically conquered the nation and formed his own village there, Otogakure. He had already started the experiments; first was Hidan, since once a body accepted his powers they wouldn't die because of the other member's. Luckily Hidan's was the most abundant of the materials, so he could afford the many failures. But now, looking at a Sharingan again, he wanted to secure it as soon as possible. Even if it wasn't immortal, once with the body he could get as much genetic material as he wanted.

Hearing the mission Kisame and Itachi would be sent to, Orochimaru let a plan formulate on his mind.

"Leader-sama, if I could give a suggestion." Everyone looked at him, Pain giving him permission to speak. "I would like to take the place of Kisame, and accompany Itachi in this mission."

Kisame raised his brows at it. "Oh, really? Why is it you want to take my place?"

Orochimaru smirked. "From what I got, this mission will be taking place in the Fire Country, and Konoha shinobi like me and Itachi know that place very well so we are the most indicated for it." He pointed out. Pain nodded, but Kisame was ready to argue. "Besides, you say that we should get used to working with other members too besides our partners. This could be a perfect moment."

Inwardly, Orochimaru kicked himself. This last part didn't go like he wanted and sounded almost stupid. He could see Kisame smirk; it would be easy for him to debunk it. However…

"I agree. I would like to have Orochimaru as my partner, if you wouldn't mind, Leader-sama." The declaration of Itachi took both Orochimaru and Kisame by surprise, though like always the leader showed no reaction.

"Then it's agreed. You will be leaving right now." As the duo left, Orochimaru smirked as he faintly heard Hidan mock Kisame, followed by the sound of flesh being cut and loud cussing.

He should have noticed something was wrong. But he didn't.

* * *

"AARGHH! You bastard…!"

Orochimaru stood doubled over, clutching the stump where his hand should be. After completing the mission, he had tried to take over Itachi's body. But that damn Uchiha had dared to resist and put him on a genjutsu, and then cut off his hand!

"You expected me to fall for such a trick?" Itachi's voice was stoic; he didn't even show signs of contempt. Which only angered Orochimaru more.

"You… You won't get away with it!"

"I already did. I talked to Leader-sama before we left; he and a few others were already suspicious of you. Now, you just confirmed it." He looked down, staring intently at Orochimaru with his Sharingan eye active. "None of your deception can fool these eyes. This hand shall serve as a proof of it."

Orochimaru snarled; he had lost this time, but in the long run there was still a chance. Grabbing his severed hand and hiding it in his robes, he suddenly sprung in Itachi's direction, the Uchiha preparing to counterstrike with a kunai. As he got close, however, Orochimaru suddenly crouched and opened his mouth, literally spitting a new body in Itachi's direction. Not expecting the movement, Itachi barely managed to evade a critical hit, still getting a rather large cut through his arm from Orochimaru's attack.

"Don't start getting cocky, child. You may have won the battle, but the war is far from over. One day… Those eyes will be mine!" With that Orochimaru ran to the forest, disappearing from Itachi's sight.

Running through the trees, Orochimaru smirked. The kunai now had Itachi's blood, and considering the deepness of the cut maybe a bit of muscle tissue. Unfortunately he hasn't mastered his shedding technique to the point of recovering lost limbs, but that was just a minor setback. He had more important matters at hand.

Now he couldn't return to the Akatsuki, which meant he had lost his supplies of genetic material, and he was rather limited on Konan's, Pain's, Zetsu's and Itachi's. Luckily he had planned for a possible failure and as such he had taken Sasori's puppetry scroll earlier before leaving with Itachi. Also, since he took his severed hand with the membership ring, they would probably try to come after him; now he had someone else besides Konoha to worry about.

Above everything, now he needed to be more careful in his experiments. He couldn't be wasting his limited materials on those who would most likely die; he needed someone who had a near perfect chance of surviving them. Someone with almost supernatural healing, who could survive anything…

His eyes gleamed. He knew exactly who it was.

* * *

**Well, here it is my version of dracohalo117 challenge, Perfection. It is also my first Naruto story, as well as my first english story so I know the grammar is not perfect. If there are any major errors, though, just tell me and I will try to correct them.**

**So, I apologize if it seemed to similar to Arynia's or Thanatos' versions. That is the problem with starting so later than them; most ideas got already taken. But I guarantee you this story will take a rather different path than theirs after a while, starting with the next chapter which will probably be out in a few days. **

**And, I think that is it. Don't really have much to say now. I like reviews so, if anyone took the time to read this, could you try to give me some feedback? It would be highly appreciated.**


	2. Rise to Perfection I

**Disclaimer: Again, don't own Naruto nor the general plot of this.**

* * *

"So, how is he doing?"

"All bodily functions are okay, his heartbeat is normal, his condition is stable. The transplant was a success, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru smiled at hearing this, before he slowly broke out laughing; a loud, crazy, maniacal laugh. It was a success! The last steps of his quest for a perfect, ultimate power had finally started!

Looking at the cooling tank where his future host was stored, he smirked. Inside it, a boy was floating on the water there. He was young, about 8 years old. Short, spiky hair, shining blue eyes which were closed right now and most likely would change once the other transplants were done. But the main characteristic of the boy was the whisker marks in his face, which showcased his role as the Kyuubi jinchuriki.

Naruto Uzumaki.

"I always knew you would pay off the trouble I had to go through to take you out of that village all those years ago, boy." Orochimaru smirked. Truly, it had been a difficult work. He started reminiscing.

After hearing about how the Kyuubi attack had been stopped, Orochimaru had taken an interest on the young boy turned jinchuriki. After all, he was on an organization whose main goal was to capture the bijuu; he had learned how strong these jinchuriki could become if they were trained properly. Knowing his sensei, he doubted the man would turn the kid into a weapon like the other villages did. Such a chance being missed, Orochimaru felt tempted by it; truly, he didn't care that much on having a super soldier, but it was always good to have a powerful trump card in case the future held something unexpected. In the worst scenario, he could use the kid to bargain with the Akatsuki.

Through sheer luck, one of the shinobi chosen to keep an eye over the kid was a subordinate of his. This proved to Orochimaru that the destiny itself was asking for him to go on with this idea. As such, he started to move.

His spies would provide him with the info on the boy and his overall schedule. Who would visit him and when they did it more often, the normal behavior of the child, and the time his spies were on guard. With the village mostly destroyed by the attack and in the process of rebuilding, it was easy enough for Orochimaru to sneak in during his free time in Akatsuki.

Of course, just taking the boy like that wouldn't be wise. They would try to find the culprit and, if they were smart enough, they would end up tracing it back to him. So, he had to make sure no one would notice.

During the first few times he was in the village, he merely observed the boy, trying to memorize every trace of his. Then, he went further and started studying the seal on his belly. Orochimaru had always been interest in fuinjutsu, creating his own seals for varied purposes. However, everything he ever did paled in comparison to what he saw engraved on the boy's belly. As much as his pride refused, he had to admire Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, for creating such a complex and almost fail proof seal; indirectly, he had to also congratulate his former teammate Jiraiya on teaching the Namikaze so well. But back to his plan. The motive why he observed the boy was simple; he had to substitute him.

It was a simple, almost obvious idea. Yet so genial.

However, from what he got of his subordinates the now-reinstated Third Hokage and Jiraiya too would occasionally come to make routine checks on the boy's seal, to see if everything was alright. They never went too far on the check-ups though; partially because they didn't understand enough of the seal and partially because—Orochimaru guessed—they trusted Minato's seal-making abilities. This made things perfect for Orochimaru.

Taking some random male babies, Orochimaru took them to his bases and started making experiments on them. Changing their appearance and genetic material to become as close to baby Naruto's as possible; even the whisker marks on his face was possible to copy. Of course, there were a few failures, but Orochimaru soon learned with his mistakes and managed to salvage quite a good amount of children. Copying the seal, though, was nearly impossible. _Nearly_.

But everything had a solution. This situation was no exception.

Through his experience with seals, Orochimaru had developed what he called the 'Cursed Seal'. It was truly a magnificent work, if he said so himself; it would input some of Orochimaru's chakra into the victim, strengthening them to points never before seen. In more advanced versions, it caused changes to the user's body, giving them demonic appearances. _Demonic _was the key word.

Taking a bit of the Kyuubi's own chakra, which he found out had lingered in some parts of Konoha, Orochimaru proceeded to make alterations on the Cursed Seal. It worked the same as before: once activated by really strong emotions, such as hatred or anger, it would allow the user to call upon a mix between Orochimaru's and Kyuubi's chakras. Although it was predominantly Orochimaru's, the Kyuubi's had a stronger 'aura' to it, making it seem like it was just the power of the bijuu even for the most skilled sensors. The collateral effects of the Cursed Seal would pass as the boy's body not being used to the Kyuubi's influence.

And since it had Orochimaru's chakra it would work like any other Cursed Seal. Orochimaru wouldn't need to worry about fighting the boy in the future.

Though a 'few' babies died on the process of receiving the seal—it proved to have a success rate even worse than the normal one—Orochimaru finally managed to find one that survived. Not only that, the child's behavior matched with that of little Naruto, which was an added bonus: he wouldn't have to lose time giving the boy a seal to alter his personality. Time which was essential. He couldn't risk letting time pass and allow the boy to show more of himself; each moment he waited would have only increased the chances of failure.

The new Cursed Seal also had a similar design to the one of the Fourth Hokage, and the few missing parts were placed in by Orochimaru with normal seal ink: not even Jiraiya would notice the difference. In the end, it was a success. The only way for someone to notice the differences would be by looking far deep into it, something Jiraiya and Sarutobi wouldn't unless the Kyuubi threatened to break free; something that would never happen.

Orochimaru had also faced a few problems in Akatsuki thanks to his months long 'break', but nothing he couldn't handle.

Looking again, maybe this was what caused them to distrust him in the first place. But it didn't matter now.

* * *

Darkness.

The cold, alluring darkness.

Throughout the years, Naruto had grown used to it. He would pass days without seeing the sun, without seeing anyone to be honest. He remember the guards saying child's like him used to fear the dark; if Naruto ever had such fear, he had lost it long ago.

However, the last time someone threw him in the darkness he saw the glint in the man's eye. This was the darkness he didn't like, an unnatural one that was provoked by these men, similar to sleep; he would always awake feeling funny and these men claimed they did experiments on him. Although he seemed to have lost part of his 'childlike innocence' throughout the years, he still feared what these 'experiments' meant.

"-ems to be the only side effect, Orochimaru-sama."

Groaning a bit, Naruto slowly opened his eyes, letting the darkness fade. His vision still hazy, he managed to see the silhouette of a bowing man on his side and, looking forward, another man standing. He seemed to be on a laboratory of sorts. His vision cleaning a bit, he managed to see the man perfectly now, his smirk causing Naruto to resist the urge to growl.

Orochimaru.

"Kukuku. There is no problem; he doesn't look so bad this way." Orochimaru eyed the boy hungrily, seeing that he was already on the way to become his perfect vessel.

Naruto, this time, truly growled and tried to stand up. The man on his side—a scientist, Naruto noted—hastily grabbed him by the neck and forced him down again. Naruto hated those 'scientists' as much as he hated Orochimaru himself. They would always make experiments with him, trying to harness the power of Kyuubi—yes, he knew about it. Because of these experiments, his senses had become more acute and he had become faster and smarter than a child his age should be, sometimes enough to outsmart Orochimaru's grunts—not that Naruto felt it was much of a feat. However, he had also become more animalistic, violent and impulsive; or at least that's what they said. He had never been in a truly civilized ambient, so he didn't know.

He never even had a childhood.

He barely had any contact to other children unless it was to train with them, and even them he never made 'friends'—he barely even knew the meaning of this word.

Because of everything he had to go through in life, Naruto had been forced to mature quickly. And he couldn't help; he hated those that caused it.

"My, the boy is a little feisty today. Wonder if it's because of the experiment." Orochimaru smirked, walking away to a desk and searching for something.

"Fucking bastard snak-" Naruto was grumbling under his breath before the scientist grabbed his neck with a bit more strength, making him stop. One thing he had picked up from the guards and soldiers of Orochimaru was the habit of cussing; actually he rarely did, but he would still do it occasionally when strongly angered, such as by being in the presence of the Snake Sannin.

Seemingly oblivious to Naruto's insults, Orochimaru returned with a mirror in his hand. Making a motion for the scientist to let Naruto go, he handed the mirror to the boy.

Naruto looked at Orochimaru in the eye. Most were scared of the snake-man's gaze, but not Naruto; something which to this day still amused Orochimaru. Finally breaking the eye contact, Naruto slowly looked back at the mirror. What he saw made him jump in surprise.

His hair…

His once blonde, almost golden hair had changed. It wasn't really white, but more like silver. Naruto was a bit torn at this development; he had really liked his blonde hair, he was used to it, but he couldn't deny he liked this new hair color. What was the word a child would use at a moment like this? 'Cool', wasn't it? _"Ha, I guess it is kinda cooler this way…"_

So absorbed was Naruto in his musings he didn't notice Orochimaru walking around him, observing him. Orochimaru had to admit he was feeling a sort of _déjà_ _vu_ by looking at the boy: with his blonde hair he had looked like Minato Namikaze, now with his silver hair Orochimaru could swear he was looking at his former teammate Jiraiya. Maybe it was just a coincidence…

Anyway, looking at the boy he decided it was time to make sure Naruto had inherited Hidan's ability. Taking advantage that the boy was still distracted, he unsheathed his sword.

Unknown to him, Naruto wasn't that distracted. While looking at the mirror, he noticed Orochimaru standing behind him and adjusted the mirror so that he could watch the man. Seeing him unsheathe his sword, Naruto's eyes widened and he turned around, bringing the mirror as a shield to block the attack.

As if a mirror could shield against the Kusanagi sword.

"AAARGH!" Naruto screamed in pain, feeling the blood start to rise from his throat. Looking down, he saw the Kusanagi sword had pierced the mirror and went on to pierce him square in the chest, going all the way to his back. It was a fatal hit, no matter how you looked at it.

But then… Why didn't he feel like he was dying?

"HAHAHA! It truly worked!" Orochimaru suddenly let out a loud laugh, unlike anything Naruto had ever heard. The scientist let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding; if it had failed, he would have been the next to feel the sharpness of that sword.

Removing the sword from Naruto, Orochimaru added. "Congratulations Naruto-kun. You are now immortal."

Looking down at the injury in his chest, Naruto could still feel the pain coming from it; however, he didn't feel it as something life-threatening. It was more like a small cut: it hurt, but it wouldn't kill him. Looking back at the mirror in his hand, he replied. "Well, congratulations to you too Orochimaru. You just got seven years of bad luck."

The scientist looked frightened after hearing this—whether because of the actual statement or for fearing his master's reaction Naruto didn't know—but Orochimaru merely chuckled. Suddenly two ninja wearing Otogakure garbs appeared behind him. "You already had enough for now, Naruto-kun. You can go back to your room."

This wasn't a suggestion, as the two ninja went to Naruto's side and made him move. Soon he disappeared through the door, on the way to his 'room'.

"Kisa, you stay here." The scientist, now identified as Kisa, stopped immediately and turned back to Orochimaru.

"Y-Yes, Orochimaru-sama?"

Looking at his sword, which had Naruto's blood still in it, Orochimaru answered. "You did a good job today. I want you to get the Kakuzu's material ready for the next experiment, though. I expect to make a new one in about a week."

"Sir, don't you think it's a bit too soon? I mean, it could cause proble-"

"No. I will have to travel soon, and I want that transplant ready by that time. Did I make myself clear?" Looking back at the man, he let a bit of killing intent flow. Kisa, looking like he was going to crap himself, nodded furiously before hurrying out of the room. Looking down, Orochimaru saw the mirror he had broken earlier. "Seven years of bad luck, eh? Doesn't matter. Soon enough, even luck wouldn't dare going against me."

What Orochimaru forgot was that the bad luck was already in action.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'THE EXPERIMENT FAILED'?"

The shout, which looked more like a roar, was heard in the entire base. In the experimentation room the scientists were all on the floor, either by fear from the fuming Snake Sannin or by the crushing pressure of his killer intent.

"O-Orochimaru-sama, please-" Kisa tried pleading with him, finding it difficult to breath since the killer intent was mostly focused on him. Suddenly, things felt lighter again as the crushing pressure left; but the glare he was receiving was still enough to make him nervous. "T-Thanks, sir."

"If you don't explain what happened NOW, you won't be thanking me Kisa." Threatened Orochimaru.

"Co-Come with me, sir." As the two left, Kisa showed Orochimaru the cooling tank where Naruto was in. Orochimaru frowned. The water around the boy was dark, and he could see black tendrils floating in the water near him.

"What is the meaning of this, Kisa?"

"Thanks to the immortality, he is not suffering any consequences; however, the body seems to have rejected the transplant. We… We do not know why." The man stopped, gulping in fear. Looking at his master, he saw Orochimaru had a pensive look on his face. "Please, Orochimaru-sama, give me ano-"

"Let's do it again." Interrupting and surprising the scientist, Orochimaru started walking out of the room. "I'm giving you a second chance. But if you want to avoid losing time and die already…"

"N-No! Thanks, sir." The scientist ran to the other room, hurriedly calling everyone to redo the experiment.

A dozen different ideas to explain the rejection were running through Orochimaru's head. But one was the most prominent. One that involved Naruto's tenant, the Kyuubi.

He should have expected it. Because of its chakra, the Kyuubi had a rather important role within Naruto's body. He had known that the Kyuubi could command and strengthen Naruto's immune system to forcefully reject what it didn't feel was beneficial for him; he had tried giving Naruto a Cursed Seal years ago, only for it to fail. The immortality was truly something that, without a doubt, even the Kyuubi wouldn't refuse, but Orochimaru had expected it to also accept the others without trouble. After all, why wouldn't it want its host to be as strong as possible?

But as he watched the experiment being done, his suspicions turned true. Halfway during it, the seal on Naruto's belly flared and his body started convulsing. A bit later, when placed back in the cooling tank, Orochimaru could only watch as the material was once again rejected. He couldn't help but feel himself was partially to blame for it. Had he waited and given Hidan's immortality later, the Kyuubi would have had no choice but accepting the transplant. He had been too greedy, and he was now suffering the consequences.

"Damnit."

Looking at the side, he could see Kisa almost having a nervous attack and frowned a bit. The man was a genial scientist and a gifted medic, but he was too much of a coward. He really hoped he could find someone better to take the man's place as his chief scientist. Turning around, he started walking out of the room.

"Orochimaru-sama, please, I-I don't know why this is happening. If you could give me one more chance…" Kisa followed Orochimaru, pleading for his life.

"Be quiet. I will give you another chance, but not now. I have to go oversee a few things in the Water Country base, so I will be away for sometime."

He couldn't just pass this travel. He had been hearing rumors about survivors of Kirigakure's bloodline purges having settled down in minor cities around the Water Country, in particular some of his subordinates reported the suspicion of there being a Hyoton user in a poor city near his base. The finding of Kimimaro not long ago was proof that this could be more than just a rumor, and he couldn't pass up the chance of acquiring more Kekkei Genkai.

Still, he needed to find an answer to this new problem. And he couldn't let Naruto slack off for the undetermined time he was away; he had planned to have someone help the boy in learning the uses for Kakuzu's abilities, but this was impossible now.

Still, there was another thing that he could do in the meantime.

"However, Kisa, I want you to do something while I'm out…"

* * *

"You are going to teach me puppetry?"

Naruto hadn't been this confused since… well, he couldn't think of anything this confusing. After being taken for another experiment, he had woken up not on his usual cell. No, instead he woke up for the first time in a comfortable bed, in a room that looked—for him, at least—like something that a king would live. He wasn't complaining, but he couldn't help but fearing what was behind it.

A few hours after, the chief scientist Kisa had come to the room carrying a rather large scroll. Something about Orochimaru leaving and wanting him to train puppetry.

"I will not be teaching you puppetry _per se_, that you will learn through this scroll. But seeing as puppetry needs a great deal of chakra control, I will be teaching it to you." Kisa's face scrunched up, looking at Naruto with suspicion. "You KNOW how to gather chakra, right?"

"Of course I do!" Yelled in response Naruto, a bit angered that he would think so lowly of him.

"Good, one less problem." Grumbled Kisa. Taking the scroll, he took a good look at the symbol in it—a scorpion, it seemed—and proceeded to open it. His face took a look of surprise at seeing the contents of the scroll.

In the scroll there were multiple seals. Though he wasn't an expert, he could recognize they were simple storage seals; the writing in them showing what was stored in each one. He scanned his eyes over them. _"No doubt this is Akasuna no Sasori's doing. The biggest secrets of puppetry are hidden here… And I have to waste them on this kid."_

Kisa had followed Orochimaru for a long time, both out of fear for the man and because of his promises to let him test and advance his knowledge. But with time he only gained a dislike for the Snake Sannin; many others had too but were, like him, to fearful of the man to go against him. Maybe, just maybe, this scroll could be the answer to that.

But right now, it would be better to do as he wished. Taking the scroll about chakra strings, he handed it to Naruto. "Alright. Read on how to use chakra strings and I will try to help you."

Naruto was still distrusting of Kisa, but decided to do anyway. Other than writing and reading, he had never had anyone really teach him anything. He only knew how to call upon his chakra thanks to a newbie guard, who Naruto managed to goad into teaching him. He wasn't going to pass this chance.

As he read on how to form chakra strings, it seemed easy enough. However, once moved to practicing, he found it was actually far more difficult than it sounded. He needed to mold his chakra into fin little threads and then reach out with it. After a few hours of trying, Naruto had no success in doing it; when he did it almost right the chakra would suddenly go out of control and the string would break apart.

"Damnit!" Said Naruto in frustration, after uncountable failures.

"Calm down, boy." After observing and analyzing Naruto during his training, Kisa finally decided it was time for him to interfere. "Well, your chakra control is horrible. You are using way too much chakra and overcharging the strings." He sighed, rubbing his temples. It was going to be too much troublesome. "Guess I will have to teach you from the beginning. Let's go."

Motioning for the guards on the door, he took the scrolls and left the room; walking down the corridor, Naruto and the guards following. They went to an area just outside the base, which was located on a forest.

"Okay, boy, let-"

"Sorry to interrupt, Kisa-sensei."

Groaning a bit at hearing the voice, the scientist turned around to the entrance of the base to look at the newcomer. Naruto also paid attention to him, especially since he had never seen him before: it was a boy older than Naruto, probably in his mid-teens, with long white hair and wearing glasses.

"What is it, brat?" Kisa asked, irritated. It was already bad enough having to teach that boy, he wasn't in the mood to have to deal with another one.

"The other scientists have asked me to find you. Apparently, they might have found something about that subject and wanted to discuss it with you."

Kisa's face lightened up. _That_ subject was most likely Naruto's transplants; he couldn't leave it for later. But at the same time he also had to do something about the kid here. Taking a look at his assistant, he smirked a bit.

"I will go see what they want. But you, Kabuto… I want you to help the boy a bit. His chakra control is abysmal; I believe you know how to help him."

Not saying anything else, Kisa went back into the base; disappearing from their views quickly. Kabuto looked at the boy, a bit confused at the situation. Naruto merely looked back, understanding as much of the situation as him. The day got more confusing at every passing moment.

"Uhh… Do you know tree-walking?"

* * *

When they had said the city was poor, Orochimaru didn't expect it to be that much.

Just looking at it made him feel disgusted.

It had been a few days since he came back to the Water Country base. He had observed secretly the nearby cities, noticing how poor they and their habitants were; the very same type of people he would use for his experiments. The poor, useless people who could only have use in the hands of stronger people. Hands of people like Orochimaru. He made a point to order his subordinates to try and get them for his future experiments.

But that was not the motive for him to be there. When he first visited the city a day ago, he had found a little girl playing a bit with the water and, to both the girl and Orochimaru's surprise, the water froze. _"So, I found the Hyoton user."_ The girl tried to understand what happened and soon was managing to freeze the water at will, something Orochimaru was very impressed. _"She just found out about this power, yet she is already making quick progress. Such a potential…"_

Of course, he was already planning on having her as part of his forces; she had great talent so it would be a waste to just use her as a guinea pig or as a breeding stock. But for that he couldn't just take her by force; for that he needed her to _want_ it. From what he saw, she seemed to be pretty happy with her family and wouldn't go by herself; however, her father wasn't really fond of Kekkei Genkai. This gave him an idea on how to get her to come to his side, and he didn't lose time in putting it in action.

Coming back today, he noticed the city was almost empty. As he walked through it, he could smell the blood and feel the faint touch of death passing by—something common during the wars. He could feel himself smile victoriously at this, for those signals were what he expected; they meant his plan was a success.

For him, those dark and gory signs were a prelude of victory.

And as he reached the girl's house and saw the spikes of ice coming from it, the blood visible in some of them, his victory was fully achieved.

Going into the background of the house, he saw the little girl crying. Foolish was her father and the people of the city, who shunned such a potential power. As he approached, he saw a man come out of the house with difficulty; even Orochimaru couldn't help wondering how he was still alive. The man slowly moved to the girl, her back to him, seemingly not noticing his presence as she continued crying.

As the man stood unsteadily behind her, a small scythe on his hand, the girl finally noticed the shadow over her, quickly standing up and turning around. She couldn't defend herself, nor did she intend to; she just stood there, closing her eyes as he raised his weapon to kill her…

She waited for her death. When she saw her father and all those men killing her mother and moving for her, calling them monsters, she didn't know what happened. She felt something surge through her, a power she never felt before, and as if controlled by the pain, anger, despair, everything she felt in that moment, she let it out. She had proved them right; she killed everyone, had truly acted like a monster.

She had no right to stop this man from killing her.

She heard the sound of metal slicing through flesh, pained cries of a dying person and blood splattering. However, none were from her. Opening her eyes, she instinctively moved her head back and closed them again as she saw the tip of a sharp metallic object a mere centimeter away from her face.

Opening her eyes again, she took a better look: a sword had impaled the man through his gut, and she could see the man had dropped his scythe. The sword moved to the side, the body of the man sliding of it and into the floor; dead. As she looked at the one who wielded the sword, she couldn't help feeling a chill run through her.

"Hello, child."

* * *

**Well, here is the second chapter. I was halfway done with it when I posted the first one, and I got a bit anxious with the big number of hits/favorites/alerts it got so I decided to post it already. I haven't started on chap3 though, so don't expect it to come as fast as this one.  
Also, thanks for the reminder Xeiden: you just gave me an idea for the Zetsu transplant. I intended on making that one happen this chapter already, but didn't work. **

**Joke Note: Reading it a bit, I noticed a certain common occurrence of characters trying to stab others from behind. Two chapters in and already happened eight times. The pervert side of me is interpreting it very badly...(No worry, there won't be yaoi in here).**

**Srs note: Yeah, for anyone who don't get it that's FemHaku. I don't remember if it was said how old Haku was when that happened, so I took a bit of liberty here. She is about a year older than Naruto, so she should be 9 years right now. She will become a major character, when I talked with dracohalo117 I mentioned there was a possibility for a NarutoFemHaku pairing though there is nothing certain for now.**

**Of course, this means Zabuza won't be getting her. The canon will still happen with the Naruto substitute, but with minor changes. Don't think this happened in the other Perfection stories yet. Of course, this brings up the 'Living Kushina' point of the challenge.**

**As for the OC, Kisa... Well, Kabuto should be 14-15 by that time. Considering he was Sasori's spy I would think he joined recently; and no way Orochimaru would take a newbie and put him as his right-hand man so soon. So someone(Kisa) would be in his place. He won't be staying for too long though, I didn't even bother to describe his appearance; just imagine him the way you want.**

**And a small question for you readers: is the story too dark? I mean, the story got added to a C2 of dark fics and I myself felt the last part of this chapter got a bit darker than I wanted. Don't think it is enough to warrant a M rating, but what do you guys think? You all liking it this way?**

**So, that's all for now. Will try to get the next ready chapter by next week; till then reviews and comments are appreciated. **


	3. Rise to Perfection II

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Seriously, I will stop placing this thing.**

* * *

"I see that kid has way more stamina than I thought he had. I thought you would be here sooner."

Outside the laboratory room, the scientists were already gathered. It had been a day since they had their meeting, with the results proving very… _satisfying _to Kisa. Right now, they were waiting for Kabuto's arrival with the child; he was instructed to take the boy to them after the training, preferably unconscious.

Standing in front of them, Kabuto was carrying an unconscious Naruto in his arms. The boy had surprised him; his chakra control was truly grotesque, even more so than he expected. Still, the boy more than compensated for that with determination: even after numerous failures he kept trying until he was too exhausted, and then more until he passed out—and Kabuto found out that the child had much more stamina than normal, making this even more of a feat. But what really surprised Kabuto was that, the next day, the boy showed no signs of fatigue; it was as if he had rested for an eternity before resuming training.

In the end his determination proved to be quite useful, with the boy making a really good progress

Kisa was eyeing the boy. "How did it go?"

"He did well. His chakra control isn't incredible, but it's decent enough for now."

"Good. Now get out, I will be taking him from here." Kisa said, trying to get Kabuto out quickly.

The teenager understood exactly what was happening. "Didn't Orochimaru-sama say you shouldn't do other transplants while he is away? Or are you trying to waste them on purpose? Orochimaru-sama won't be happy when he discovers…"

The scientists seemed a bit fearful after hearing it. Kisa, however, just growled.

"Get out already, brat." Without arguing Kabuto left, a smirk on his face. Turning back to his companions, Kisa noticed the fear on their faces. One even suggested that they postpone the transplant to after Orochimaru's arrival.

"Shut up, you bunch of cowards! Orochimaru-sama will be pleased by this; besides, we already tested it. There is nothing to fear, damnit!"

With that, Kisa pushed the others out of his way as he entered the lab. The scientists looked between themselves, before hesitantly following their chief. Soon they were finishing the preparations for the transplants, praying to whatever god out there for this one to succeed.

Looking at the vial containing the soon-to-be transplanted material, Kisa remembered the meeting on the previous day. They had called him after finding out traces of a different DNA in one of the materials. One DNA of a man Orochimaru had researched extensively many years ago, and apparently he had conducted experiments with prior to leaving Konoha.

The DNA of Hashirama Senju, the Shodai Hokage.

Seeing again, he remembered Orochimaru commented that one Akatsuki member had a plant-like appearance. Zetsu. It made sense that he had the DNA of a Mokuton user, the question was: why he had it? It was improbable that he was a descendant; the genetic material wasn't present in the way hereditary genes would. It looked more like it was transplanted or something like that…

But it didn't matter how he had it. Just the fact he had it was good. Not for the Mokuton itself; it was an added bonus, true, but from the way the Shodai's material was merged in there the chances the Mokuton could actually pass down to Naruto was almost inexistent. He doubted even this Zetsu could use the Kekkei Genkai, at least not properly. But there was another thing the Senju was known for, which was the true motive for it to be valuable: his chakra.

Hashirama Senju had managed to fully control all of the Tailed Beasts thanks to that chakra.

The implications of that were stunning to the scientists, and they set out to test their theory. Basically if the Kyuubi was the one rejecting the transplants, the Senju chakra present in Zetsu's one will most likely stop the bijuu from rejecting it. They had no idea if it could help them on stopping the rejection of future transplants, but it was worthy enough to try.

As the preparations were made, the transplant started. The scientists were nervous, even more so when the seal on his belly flared halfway through the operation. After the boy was placed in the cooling tank, Kisa decided to wait and watch. The test they had made earlier had been positive; the material was able to repel the Kyuubi's chakra—leftovers from the many experiments they did with Naruto throughout these years. However, he feared the results could be different within Naruto's body.

But as he saw the seal fade and a few changes started to happen in Naruto's appearance, his fears soon disappeared.

* * *

These foolish humans thought they could stop him with that little amount of Senju chakra.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune didn't know whether it should be angered or amused at their idea. However, the one thing it truly felt was another, unexpected one.

It was thankful.

"**Foolish humans.**"

Ever since its creation the Kyuubi had always been feared as a natural catastrophe, capable of crushing mountains with a swing of its tails. Simply the mention of its name was capable of making the strongest men be overcome by fear and despair. However, throughout the last decades it had been almost forgotten; considered nothing more than a legend or a story to scare little children. All thanks to those damned people who tried and 'tamed' him. Such an audacity, to tame the mighty Kyuubi no Kitsune!

Although the seal that bound him was stronger this time, the boy he was currently residing inside didn't have that accursed chakra. That damned chakra from those women, who could fight back against him almost like the chakra from the Senju. But now, the boy didn't have such a chakra; which meant he had a chance. This new power those mans were trying to put in the boy was the key to his freedom.

He inspected the materials before accepting or rejecting. The immortality was something that was needed. At least in theory, if its host died the Kyuubi would disappear but eventually reform; how much time it took was something it didn't know, and was probably the one motive he didn't just let his former vessels die. However, this time it was different: besides the seal that bound it to the boy there was another that bound a part of its soul within the Shinigami. In other words, if the boy died before the Kyuubi was freed then all of the Kyuubi would be trapped within the Shinigami's belly.

He couldn't risk it…

However, it didn't mean that he would let the boy get the other transplants. If he wanted to be freed he needed to either convince the boy to do so or take over the body; it wouldn't do any good for his plans letting the boy strengthen himself. But this one, the one with the Senju chakra, was different.

It was slowly creating a copy of Naruto's mind, literally giving him a split personality.

The Kyuubi had smirked when he learned it. It was the perfect chance: if he could spread his influence over that 'second mind', the bijuu could even take its place. And once in there, it would be easy to take over the boy's body. As such, the Kyuubi slowly started to spread its chakra through the boy's body, intending to take the first step to his freedom.

However, things didn't go as planned.

As he began spreading its chakra, the Kyuubi's eyes widened as what seemed like a gust of wind repelled it. It was strong enough to push back even the Kyuubi. As it slowly recomposed itself, the bijuu looked forward and locked eyes with a figure; he growled when he recognized who it was.

"**You… What do you think you are doing?**"

"What does it look like? I'm protecting Naruto; I won't let you try to influence him." The figure said.

The Kyuubi let out a roar and rushed to the gate of its prison, only to be blown back again by the strong wind. Being sent to the back of the cell, it could only watch in surprise as chains appeared from the walls, restraining it. How could it…

"You underestimated the power of the Senju chakra. While that little amount may not be enough to stop you by itself…" The chains tightened around the fox "…it was enough to strengthen me."

As the figure turned around and started walking away, the Kyuubi roared again, struggling against the chains. "**You think you can keep me away forever? Once I'm freed, I will take over the boy's mind! There is nothing you can do about it!**"

The figure slowly grinned. "Then I will make sure you can never reach Naruto."

With that the figure started glowing so brightly the Kyuubi had to close its eyes. After a while the figure disappeared in a yellow flash, leaving a still chained Kyuubi to ponder on its words.

And the Kyuubi didn't like the implications of those words.

The Kyuubi continued there for who knows how long. While it had long ago stopped caring about time, it could wonder briefly if more than a day had already passed. After what felt like an eternity, the chains finally disappeared.

Making a mad dash for the cell's bars, the Kyuubi tried to reach out with his chakra, only to find himself repelled. The 'second mind' had already been formed, and it was radiating with that damned chakra. Worst of it, it also stopped him from reaching the boy's normal mind.

The Kyuubi fell to the floor, letting out a frustrated roar.

After so much time waiting for this chance, he saw the last chances of freedom escape.

* * *

It had been a month since the last experiment had been made in Naruto.

And the boy still hadn't awakened from it.

Watching the boy in his comatose-like state, Kisa couldn't help feeling nervous. Very nervous. He had managed to cover the boy's condition from his fellow scientists in order to avoid mass hysteria, saying he was conducting some experiments by himself and they couldn't see him for now. But as each moment passed he felt as if all that panic was being concentrated on him alone. Today was the day Orochimaru returned from the Water Country, and he doubted the man would be happy when he discovered what happened.

As he heard the sound of footsteps coming to his direction, he spun with such violence he felt himself get dizzy. However, he felt a bit more calm when he saw it was just Kabuto.

"What is the matter, Kisa-sensei? Is something wrong with Naruto?" The sarcastic tone of the teenager's voice did not go unnoticed by Kisa.

Kabuto, being his assistant and sort of apprentice, was the only one who knew about what happened for obvious motives.

"Shut up, brat." His former nervousness forgotten, he glared at the boy. He didn't like Kabuto much, but had to put up with him. Especially with the current situation.

"Well, I did warn you that Orochimaru-sama wouldn't like it. So, will I tell him or do you prefer doing it yourself?" As Kisa's glare intensified, Kabuto grinned. "I'm serious, Kisa-sensei. Orochimaru-sama is already here and wants to see you and the boy."

The emotion on Kisa's face slowly reverted back from anger and irritation to the fear and nervousness as he let that information sink. Only a miracle could save him now; as a man of science he didn't really believe on a god but he was willing to change his views if it happened. Deciding that it would be worse if he made Orochimaru wait, he set off towards the 'throne room'—which could very well be his execution site in a few moments—though making no effort to walk fast.

When he arrived, he bowed down in front of Orochimaru. He noticed that Kabuto did the same; why the hell did the brat come here for? Kisa resisted the urge to snap at him; he probably wanted to watch his death first-hand.

"Didn't I tell you to bring Naruto too?" Asked Orochimaru calmly. Kisa shuddered; he felt there was something wrong.

"W-Well, you see sir… He… He is sleeping! Yes, he is sleeping… He got too tired from yesterday's training that he is sleeping till now." Well, technically only half of it was a lie.

Orochimaru only smirked a bit, seemingly ignoring the obvious lie. "It doesn't matter. The fact he is tired will only help me." As he said that, Kisa felt a presence in the room. Looking behind, he saw a boy standing there.

The boy was probably Naruto's age, maybe 1-2 years older. He had a slightly long white hair, tied on a ponytail at the end; the front of his hair was separated on a zigzag like pattern. Another uncommon feature was the two dots above his eyebrows.

Kisa couldn't help but wonder why all the kids he had seen these last days had white hair.

"Kimimaro, go wake up Naruto for me." Orochimaru commanded and almost immediately the boy nodded and left the room. "That, Kisa, was the Kaguya survivor I told you about. He is probably the only one in many generations of his clan to awaken their Kekkei Genkai."

Kisa looked at where the boy left, surprised at this revelation. If the boy had that Kekkei Genkai, maybe they could also use it in Naruto…

"Now, Kisa…" Looking back at his master, Kisa almost jumped after seeing he was standing up close to him; a glare on his face. "I heard you disobeyed my orders and performed an experiment on Naruto; Zetsu's, wasn't it?"

Kisa could almost hear the smirk on Kabuto's face, showing who the culprit was. He could only hope this was the only thing the bastard had said… "Yes, Orochimaru-sama. B-But hear me first! It actually worked! I swear!"

Surprise appeared briefly on Orochimaru's face, replacing his glare. "Explain now."

As Kisa started explaining, talking about the discovery he and the other scientists—but mostly him—made about Zetsu, the tests, and the experiment itself, the look on Orochimaru's face got even more surprised and then turned into satisfaction. The scientist slowly started to regain his confidence; even forgetting about Naruto's current condition.

Thus avoiding unnecessary worries…

* * *

Meanwhile, while Kisa and Kabuto went to face Orochimaru…

"Uugh… My head."

The boy groaned, slowly sitting up on his bed. Naruto felt his body heavy, as if he hadn't moved in a long time, and his head felt like it would explode at any moment. He briefly wondered how long he had slept.

Rising a hand to his face, he slowly rubbed his eyes to get fully awake. However, as he removed his hand from his face he noticed there was something strange with it; raising his other hand he compared the two and understood the difference. One of his hands seemed to have gotten paler, not as much as Orochimaru—he shuddered at this thought—but still noticeable. As he looked a bit down, he noticed the changes also happened to his arm; taking of the shirt he wore, he noticed his entire torso seemed to have been affected. It was as if there was an invisible line cutting him in two: one half was normal while the other was paler.

He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation; he had seen worse from some people, who he guessed were also experimented on, but it still felt too strange seeing it on himself. Maybe he was still sleeping, and this was just a strange dream? Moving his hand down he once again rubbed his eyes…

…and then a thought occurred to him.

Jumping out of bed he ran to the bathroom and looked at a mirror. He just stood there, mouth agape, as his suspicions were confirmed.

The changes extended to his face too.

Again, one half of his face was a normal tone, while the other was a bit paler. Some of his teeth also seemed became sharper, though he couldn't understand what it had to do with anything. The main change, though, was the fact his whisker marks had disappeared. Putting a hand to his face, he traced his fingers to the place they used to be in; it was too strange. This had to be another of those experiments. But this time, he truly felt desperate.

For him, his blonde hair, his blue eyes and his whisker marks were what truly characterized him. They made him stand out, made him special, made him feel that he wasn't just one of Orochimaru's experiments.

They were his trademarks.

His identity.

Now, looking at the mirror, he could barely recognize himself.

He barely _felt_ like himself anymore.

He remembered those children he would train with, and the men that would train them. They sometimes would change their appearances, become more feral and even demonic like. Though he didn't particularly like them much—he never formed bonds with anyone—he didn't judge them just because of these changes. It would be the most hypocritical thing he could do. But he remembered others referred to them as 'monsters' or 'demons'. Looking at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help thinking that he was becoming more and more similar to them.

Was this it? Was him a monster, a demon? He didn't know anymore. He didn't know himself.

_You_ _are_ _no_ _demon..._

Turning around violently, Naruto saw no one. That… was strange. He could swear he heard a voice; a calm, soft voice talking with him.

"You are no demon…" He whispered the words he heard. The words themselves felt sort of dull; he couldn't understand why, but hearing _that_ voice say it made him feel better.

"There you are."

This time it was another voice and, as he returned to the room, Naruto saw a boy standing on the door.

"Come. Orochimaru-sama asked me to wake you up; he wants to see you."

"Wait… Orochimaru is back already?" Naruto asked in surprise. Just how long had he slept?

Kimimaro frowned a bit, noticing the lack of respect when he said Orochimaru's name. "Yes, he is. Now let's go."

Naruto didn't really want to go, but maybe he could get some answers. Putting his shirt back, he left the room and walked back to Orochimaru's throne room, Kimimaro following close behind. Naruto could feel he was watching him intently, like a hound watching over a prisoner. It made him feel a bit nervous.

"So… What is your name?" Naruto decided to try and alleviate the tension, starting a conversation. He walked slower so he was side-by-side with the boy.

After a short pause in which the boy seemed to ponder on whether to answer or not, he finally opened his mouth. "Kimimaro"

"_Okay, this didn't help much…"_ "Well, I never saw you around here, Kimimaro. Are you new or something?"

"Yes."

This was starting to annoy Naruto. "Can you answer something with more than a single word?"

Kimimaro stopped, Naruto stopping too. "We are already here."

Naruto was confused at first, before looking to the side and noticing they had arrived. He didn't really know what was worst: the rather awkward dialogue with Kimimaro or having to see Orochimaru… Okay, that was an exaggeration. Nothing was worse than that bastard snake.

"Look at who has arrived."

As Naruto entered the room with Kimimaro, he could see the look of surprise in Kabuto's and Kisa's face—this last one with something akin to relief following. Looking over at the Snake Sannin, he frowned as Orochimaru was observing him with a critical eye, looking over the changes in appearance.

"Thanks, Kimimaro." Orochimaru said. Naruto observed as the boy smiled happily at the slight praise; he could understand now why the boy was so quiet. Orochimaru moved over to them, looking at Naruto. "At least he didn't suffer any major changes. Tell me, Kisa, did he show any signs of the Mokuton?"

"No, sir. At least not yet."

Orochimaru seemed a bit disappointed at that. "No matter; I can just transplant it one day. But now, I think it's time to take out that little inconvenience that is the Kyuubi." Orochimaru placed his hand on the handle of his sword, preparing to unsheathe it. Naruto looked on, preparing to counter—or at least try to—his attack; he may not die, but he didn't fancy getting sliced or impaled like that time.

However, the attack didn't come from Orochimaru as he expected.

Naruto choked, feeling the blood run through his throat. Looking at the side, he saw the attack came from Kimimaro; the boy stood there, an impassive look in his face, holding what looked like… Wait, what? It looked like a spear but it was protruding from his wrist! Moreover, it wasn't made of metal or even wood; it reminded Naruto of a bone. Either way, the weapon had been rammed through his neck.

Even though he knew the attack couldn't kill him, it was enough to divert his attention away from Orochimaru. He felt something hit him hard on his head.

The only thing he could think before his vision blackened out completely was that he needed to pay more attention.

"Good thinking, Kimimaro." Congratulated Orochimaru as the boy removed his bone from Naruto's neck.

Putting the boy on the floor and removing his shirt, Orochimaru pulled out a scroll. During his trip to Water Country he had also discussed about Naruto's situation with other high-ranking subordinates of his. Between scouting for possible bloodline survivors and helping train Kimimaro and Haku, he studied the layout of Naruto's seal and eventually managed to find a way to stop the Kyuubi from acting on the transplants.

He found out that, besides the main seal that bound the Kyuubi to the boy, there was a second seal that basically served as an opening to the first one; it was hidden so well that even Orochimaru, after studying the seal so many times, had never discerned it from the main one. That seal allowed for the Kyuubi's chakra to slowly seep into Naruto, slowly enough for the boy's body not to suffer ill-effects, and also acted as a filter which would slowly convert the fox's chakra into normal chakra—thus increasing Naruto's own chakra pool. However, if the boy forcefully invoked the fox's chakra it would pass with such strength that the seal wouldn't have time to filter; thus causing the transformations a jinchuriki was known for.

However, through that small opening the Kyuubi could also work its influence over the boy's body. Through that opening, the Kyuubi could reject the transplants.

Orochimaru just had to close that opening.

Of course, he couldn't just remove that seal. It was too closely tied to the main one; he suspected that removing it could affect the other one too, and he didn't want to risk messing with such a complex seal.

He also couldn't extract the Kyuubi yet. Yes, he will eventually do that: with the Kyuubi in there chances were that it could affect the body-transfer technique, and removing it would possibly weaken or even destroy completely the boy's soul—making his conquest of his body all the easier. But he couldn't risk doing it yet; he had no idea how the body would respond to the transplants if the soul was damaged—chakra was partially spiritual energy, after all—and he himself couldn't take him over for a few more years.

The answer was clear after all that, though putting it into practice was another thing.

After much study, they eventually came up with a seal that would basically negate the effects of that second seal. Not negate _per_ _se,_ but do the opposite: that seal would close up any 'hole', stopping the Kyuubi's chakra as well as its influence from entering Naruto's body. Of course, this meant the boy's chakra pool would not receive more of it's supplementary increases, nor the Kyuubi's regeneration; however, thanks to the many experiments they did in the past Naruto's reserves were already enough to compete with a jonin. Besides, any shortage of chakra would soon become irrelevant once he did experiments with the Samehada's materials, and the regeneration would be easily substituted with the combined materials of Hidan and Kakuzu.

After opening the scroll, Orochimaru looked over the seal's design in it.

It was time to get to work.

* * *

Looking at what he could consider his masterpiece, Orochimaru smiled in pride.

"You are truly a genius, Orochimaru-sama. To create such a perfect seal…"

Orochimaru turned his head a bit, looking at Kisa as he entered the room. The scientist stood at his side, looking at the cooling tank that contained the Kyuubi jinchuriki. The boy looked normal, not really much different from how he was before the experiment. The only differences were what seemed like stitches running down his shoulders to his armpits, as well as circling his elbows.

The transplant had been surprising to the other scientists, who did not know about the new seal. And was also quite nerve-wrecking once the Kyuubi's seal started flaring. However, for their surprise, another symbol flared alongside it; not the orange/red-ish color of the normal seal, but a sort of purple. It slowly seemed to consume the other seal, until it simply disappeared. After that the transplant continued normally. And was a success.

"I will rest for now. Let the boy there for the night, Kisa; he won't awake for a while because of the seal."

Kisa didn't even get to answer as Orochimaru left. Still, he continued there looking at the boy. He was shaping up to be extremely powerful, 'perfect' like Orochimaru wanted.

He almost envied the child.

Looking at the side, he found a few of the materials for the experiments. They had been labeled according to their 'donor'. Looking at 'Hidan', 'Kakuzu', 'Zetsu', and remembering their powers, he could only imagine what these others contained. It… It could possibly be the key to overthrowing Orochimaru.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts; he didn't notice the shadowy figure at the door, observing him.

Nor the smirk on its face.

* * *

**Here is the third chapter of this story. I thank everyone who follows the story. And again I ask: is it too dark? **

**Well, you just met Kimimaro, the Kyuubi problem is solved(or maybe not?), Naruto gets 2 new transplants. Truthfully, I didn't like this chapter that much; I might try revising it later. Don't have much to comment, and I don't think many people actually read all I write here.**

**Next chapter highlights: Naruto meets Haku, gets some new transplants, and possibly a timeskip. Till then, enjoy and comment if you wish.**


	4. Rise to Perfection III

The base was in total chaos.

As Orochimaru walked through the corridors, he eventually arrived at the laboratory where he had left Naruto the day before. The place had been mostly locked down, a few of his shinobi guarding it; the scientists were still allowed, but were too scared to come in there. As he entered the room, he saw that not all of them avoided the place.

"O-Orochimaru-sama…"

Orochimaru eyed the white-haired teenager, before slowly moving his eyes to the corpse on his feet. "I heard what happened. Basically a suicide, wasn't it?"

Kabuto nodded, trying to hide his nervousness. "Y-Yes, sir. It seems Kisa-sensei tried to do the transplants on himself, but…"

"I can see the results. How foolish, I thought he was better than that." Orochimaru had a look of mock disappointment, as if making fun of his now dead subordinate. Chuckling a bit, he ordered Kabuto to leave the room.

Before leaving, the young man stopped a bit to give a last look to the body of his deceased master. As good as he was at hiding his emotions, though, Kabuto's eyes glinted a bit for a moment; Orochimaru noticed, and couldn't help smirking. Such a treacherous boy, and at such a young age…

As the boy left, Orochimaru looked back at the corpse and walked closer. During the times of the Second War, such a sight would make him unable to sleep for days, maybe weeks. Nowadays, however, he couldn't help but seeing the corpse with nothing but the cold interest a scientist looks at an experiment; almost as if it never had life in the first place.

Kisa's body was full of what seemed like cuts, really deep cuts which still had a bit of blood flowing from them. Strangely enough, from within these cuts multiple black threads were showing instead of his insides—or rather, they _were_ his insides. His mouth, still a bit opened, had the same material coming from them. The man's face was also a lot paler, whether it was because of the death or the transplant Orochimaru didn't know. Looking at the side of the body, Orochimaru saw a syringe—most likely how Kisa had injected the material.

Or rather, how it was injected into Kisa.

Kisa was smart enough to know that such an archaic procedure would not suffice with those materials. There was no way he would try it. If the person who did it thought Orochimaru would fall for such a trick, then it was someone really inexperienced.

Disregarding that small mistake, Orochimaru decided to 'inspect' the corpse anyway. Crouching down, he analyzed each detail of it. He had to admit that, to someone so inexperienced, it was a really well done work. Yet, for all he had seen and done over the years, Orochimaru could tell when someone did experiments on himself and when they did on others.

This definitely was done by someone else.

"Kukuku, you were naïve. You focused so much on the bigger snake; you didn't notice the smaller one till it bit you."

Orochimaru had known for a long time about Kisa's intentions, yet made no mention of it. He was still useful after all; he planned to dispose of him only when he found someone on par. Of course, the idea was impossible now; still, he was impressed with this Kabuto. He was shaping up to be a useful ally… Or a dangerous enemy.

He had to remember to keep an eye on him.

As he took his eyes off the corpse, his eyes passed briefly at the cooling tank containing Naruto's unconscious form. This proved to be crucial as, in that glance, Orochimaru noticed there was something wrong in there. He frowned and stood up, walking to the tank.

As he stood in front of it, he could see the water on the cooling tank was different. As he watched it, the substance seemed to be moving almost like an oceanic current, flowing around the tank—and with more intensity around Naruto. It kind of reminded him of a storm, with the boy being the center of it. Placing his hand on the glass, Orochimaru confirmed that there was something different: he could feel something pounding on the glass from the inside, as if trying to break free.

Well, if it wanted to be freed, Orochimaru would grant its wish.

Drawing his Kusanagi sword, Orochimaru slashed at the glass. He didn't actually break it, making only a small crack; still, thanks to the intense pressure of the unknown substance, that small crack was enough to make it explode outwards. Even before the glass actually burst, Orochimaru was already reaching forward to grab Naruto's body. As he instinctively jumped back after achieving his goal, he looked in awe as the substance flowed out of the now-broken tank with the strength of a river.

A red, liquid-like substance.

As he looked at it, he could immediately recognize what it was. The same substance he had first seen and 'experimented' with eight years prior, when making the seal of Naruto's substitute in Konoha; and had constantly seen the years after, oozing out of the boy whenever they made experiments to harness the Kyuubi's power.

It was the Kyuubi's chakra.

Orochimaru's mind was racing, trying to comprehend what happened. Had the seal failed? No, he saw the seal act and stop the Kyuubi's chakra during the transplant; the fact it was successful was proof of it. But then, what…

Quickly tilting his head down to look at the boy, his eyes widened as he looked him over. White hair, slightly bicolored skin… The boy was just like he was before the experiment, not even the whisker marks had returned—strange, he had thought they had disappeared due to the lack of contact between the boy and the Kyuubi; he was wrong apparently. But this is what unnerved the Snake Sannin: he was _exactly_ like before the experiment.

The stitches had disappeared.

Orochimaru couldn't believe it. There was no way for that accursed chakra to remove the transplants once they were completed, it was just impossible. But maybe…

Setting the boy on the floor Orochimaru idly noticed the doors opening and a few of his guards entering, probably because they heard the destruction of the tank. He paid them no attention, though, as he raised his sword and, with a swift movement, sliced open the boy's arm. Even unconscious Naruto groaned in pain, which was ignored by Orochimaru; opening a bit more the wound, he observed the black threads inside his body.

He almost sighed in relief.

As he removed his hands from the gash, he noticed as the pool of demonic chakra seemed to have crawled to them and a bit of it was slowly seeping in the wound. Pulling the boy's body away of the chakra's range, he watched in fascination as threads seemed to raise up from the wound, stitching the flesh together to close it; but what truly surprised him was when the area turned a pale white—almost as pale as his skin—and seemed to become liquid. The 'liquid skin' seemed to merge and, when it turned back to solid, the wound was no more; not even a scar remained of it. The stitches too disappeared, going back to inside the body.

It was an unexpected development, but a really interesting one too.

"Sir, is everything all right?"

Turning around, Orochimaru glanced at a scientist that had entered the room. He couldn't remember the man's name, but remembered he had partaken in Naruto's experiments.

"Call the researchers; I have a few tests I wish to conduct right now. Also, I need to store this quickly." He motioned for the pool of red chakra, and the scientist understood. It was common for them to store the leftover from the experiments in especially designed containers they had created over the years; still, he had never seen that much at once.

As the man left the room, Orochimaru stood carrying Naruto as he walked after him. "What about him, Orochimaru-sama?"

Stopping, he turned his head to look at his soldiers, who were looking at Kisa's corpse. He had forgotten about it. "Store the body in the morgue. I might find some use for it later."

With that he left, the soldiers soon following with the body after removing it from the red chakra.

* * *

"Is he going to wake up soon?"

"Probably"

"Are you sure?"

"No"

"Is he ok?"

It was in the middle of this rather intelligent debate that consciousness started to return to Naruto. Groaning a bit, he found it was difficult for him to move; opening his eyes slowly, things were too unfocused for him to grasp his surroundings.

"There is your answer."

Naruto faintly remembered that voice, and turned his eyes a bit at its direction. As his vision started to clear, he managed to recognize the person as the same boy who made him unconscious in the first place.

"Kimimaro, you bastard!"

Gaining strength from who knows where, he jumped out of the bed—he was in a bed?—and stood in front of him, his arms in a fighting stance. However, his sudden strength was short lived; pain from the abrupt movement overcame his body and, with a cry, he fell to the floor. Kimimaro didn't even move, just watching him with little more than contempt.

"Hey! You shouldn't be jumping like this!"

As he felt someone touch him, Naruto finally noticed that there was someone else in the room besides Kimimaro. Looking up, he was met by the vision of a girl; her dark hair stopped right before her shoulders. Like with Kimimaro earlier, he didn't remember meeting her before.

As she helped Naruto back to the bed, she turned back to the other occupant of the room. "You didn't say that you knew him, Kimimaro-kun."

Kimimaro seemed to shrug a bit—though it was almost imperceptible—before answering. "I don't 'know' him, and I prefer not to. It would be better if you didn't either, Haku." As he turned and walked to the door, he called back to her. "I will go notify Orochimaru-sama about his awakening; stay here and watch him. And try not talking much to him."

A few moments after he left, Naruto groaned a bit. "Jerkass" The boy was becoming even more dislikable in his eyes.

He raised his head when he heard the sound of someone giggling. Looking to the side he noticed the girl—Haku, Kimimaro had called her—sitting on the side of the room, a hand over her mouth to avoid the sounds. She didn't look like Kimimaro or the others; he really didn't know what she was doing in such a place.

She looked at him, noticing he was looking at her. "Sorry."

"Why are you here, Haku?"

She looked surprised at hearing this. "What do you mean?"

"Why is someone like you following a bastard like Orochimaru?"

Her eyes widened in surprise at hearing Naruto's disrespect towards their master. She soon forgot about Kimimaro's warning. "A tool shouldn't refer to its owner like that."

This was Naruto's time to be surprised; and a moment later, angry. "I am not a tool! Nor is that bastard my owner, got it?"

She was confused by his reaction. Shouldn't he be happy? "Then… What is your purpose?" Seeing Naruto's confused look, she continued. "It is… painful. Not having a purpose, not having anything to live for. People like me and Kimimaro, people with bloodline powers—Kekkei Genkai. Our only purpose is to serve others, to become tools for those who are willing to use us; otherwise, we don't need to live."

She stopped for a moment, remembering the moments before Orochimaru appeared to her; the feeling of hopelessness, when that man was about to kill her. She had no purpose during that time, she had no motive to cling to her life. Looking at the boy's direction, and seeing he had his head down, she continued. "I can see in your eyes. You are like me; you too will need a purpose. You should be happy that Orochimaru-sama accepted you; you should be grateful to him."

Naruto listened calmly, not showing any reaction. As he noticed she had finished, he raised his head to look at him. She felt a shiver run through her; his eyes were cold, a tranquil fury present in them.

"You are an idiot" The voice was so calm, yet so full of anger; Haku felt the urge to hide away from him. "Was it Orochimaru who convinced you of that crap? Are you telling me you want someone, even someone like _him_, to control your own life?"

"This is…"

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted, scaring the girl. "We aren't tools! We can decide things for ourselves! We don't need to follow the first scumbag we see to have a purpose." He stopped for a moment, calming down a bit. After a while, he added. "Even if what you say is true, even if we are tools; we can choose our owner, or rather, we can be our own owners."

As he stopped, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Surely enough, the door opened to reveal Kabuto and Kimimaro.

"Well, it seems like you two got a bit too heated in your conversation. We could hear the shouts from outside." Naruto looked at them, noticing that Kimimaro was glaring at him. He probably heard what he said, _great._ "Haku-chan, could you please accompany Kimimaro now? I need to talk alone with Naruto."

The girl stood up, visibly shaking, and hesitantly followed after Kimimaro. Before leaving the room, she stopped and looked at Naruto for a moment. The sound of the door closing signified she had left.

Kabuto walked over to a chair near Naruto's bed, pulling out a scroll. Naruto recognized the symbol in front of it and his eyes narrowed.

"Wasn't it Kisa who was supposed to be teaching it to me?"

Kabuto merely chuckled at it. "Kisa-sensei suffered an accident and died. From now on, I will be your new sensei." Naruto felt a shiver at the teenager's words; he talked way too casually about his sensei's death.

"But I won't be teaching you puppetry right now. I want to show you something first. Raise your hand."

At the 'innocent' request, Naruto complied. He didn't expect for Kabuto to draw a kunai and slash his arm off.

Nor did he expect what was inside it.

* * *

"What is it you have found?"

Orochimaru stood patiently, his scientists gathered in his throne room. One of them, the one he had chosen to substitute Kisa for now, was in front of them. The man was a bit more confident than Kisa, at least—he didn't fidget as much as the man used to in these meetings.

"Well, Orochimaru-sama, we have conducted the experiments on the boy like you ordered. We believe we know what happened to him."

Orochimaru was interested now. He had expected them to ask for more time; he had to admit he truly underestimated them. Maybe Kisa wasn't that much needed after all. "I'm listening."

"Your seal was totally destroyed when we inspected the bo—C-Calm down, sir. I'm not saying it was your fault, n-never!" Orochimaru stopped the killer intent. It was almost a reflex. "I… I also looked over at the seal design you left with us; the seal was powerful, really a majestic work, but it had a flaw. While it could block high amounts of chakra, t-the Kyuubi's is stronger than that of a normal person."

Orochimaru straightened up, understanding what he was saying. "So, the Kyuubi pumped so much chakra that the seal broke?"

The man nodded. "Luckily the transplant was already completed and assimilated in the body. Still, we can't understand why that amount of chakra was expelled by the body; we believe it may be because of the Senju material from the earlier transplant."

Orochimaru nodded. It was not uncommon for the boy's body to reject a bit of the Kyuubi's chakra during the experiments; the problem was the amount he had expelled this time. He had a feeling it wasn't just Zetsu's material; his instincts, which had helped him so many times in the wars, were telling him that there was something else.

Something much more complex to that rejection.

Deciding to question that later, he returned to the scientists. "What about the regeneration? Did you find anything?"

The scientist nodded. "We believe it may also have to do with the Senju material. We analyzed what remained of it, and we found that it has a great regenerative potential; more so than a normal human's skin. The contact it had with that big amount of Kyuubi's chakra may have caused an almost instantaneous regeneration."

Orochimaru was surprised at this development. He had guessed the Kyuubi's chakra had something to do with it; it was already common knowledge that it gave Naruto an advanced healing factor, but not something as extreme as what he had seen. He would have to delve further into it.

"I want you to confirm that theory." As the scientists looked back at him, not really understanding, he continued. "I took advantage of the regeneration to… _stock _on the boy's genetic material. I have already sent a bit of the boy's flesh to the laboratory; you have my permission to access the Kyuubi's chakra storage. I want you to prove that theory of yours." He stopped for a moment, focusing a glare on them and allowing for a bit of his killer intent to flow. He could see the men were starting to sweat and tremble. "Next time I see you, I want to have results ready."

Almost immediately, the scientists saluted him and left hurriedly. Orochimaru couldn't help but smirk: intimidation was really a great way to 'motivate' them. And a fun one too.

The smirk soon left his face as he started thinking on the new set of information. The Kyuubi's interference was something that could actually work in his favor. With a few changes in the seal, he could make it so that the Kyuubi's chakra would be held back until the transplant's acceptance. If he could make the seal hold this much, he would not only stop the Kyuubi from interfering in his plans, but he could also have an almost endless supply of the Kyuubi's chakra if the boy kept rejecting it.

Multiple thoughts about how he could take advantage of this situation ran through his head. He could implant it on his pawns, creating an army of pseudo-jinchuriki; such an army could be useful tp keep Konoha and the Akatsuki away from him. Moreover, what really delighted Orochimaru was the scientific advantage it would create; with the regenerative power of the Kyuubi's chakra, he could raise the survival rate of his experiments. He wouldn't have to worry about his experiments dying all the time.

Of course, it would take some time until he could make his plan work; he had to research ways to implement the chakra on others. He remembered stories of people who tried to forcefully take the power of a bijuu, mostly by eating their meat, and died. But then, he actually had a past experiment that could serve as the basis for his new idea; someone who had harnessed such a power and was still alive.

An experiment he hadn't seen in eight years.

With this point already covered, his mind went back to the other information he had received.

"_If I had known you would be this full of surprises, I would have taken more samples, Zetsu."_ Thought Orochimaru with a frown.

First he discovered the man—if he could be called it—had the DNA of Hashirama Senju, now he discovered the man could basically regenerate. What was next, he could create an army of real clones?

Sarcasm apart, this new info alerted him of something that he had feared for a long while.

He knew next to nothing about his former colleagues.

In an organization composed of missing-nins, betrayal was not something unexpected. Everyone had to be always prepared, even a newcomer like Itachi had quickly learned that. And the best way to prepare yourself in a battle was by keeping the surprise factor in your side; in other words, you couldn't let the others know all the tricks you had. He himself had hidden many of his abilities from the other members; however, the opposite was also true.

No one knew what Pain could do, he himself had no idea of the full extent of the man's power—and just the bit he knew left him scared of what more the man had. He had no doubt that experienced shinobi like Kakuzu and Sasori had also hid their true powers, the same for Konan and Kisame. The only one that could be an exception is Hidan; even then, the man was not an S-rank for nothing—though Orochimaru had no doubt he could beat him easily if it ever came to that.

This also raised a bit of apprehension regarding Naruto. He had already made plans, strategies on how to counter the boy's abilities should he ever rebel against him. But now that there were so many unknown variables thrown in the mix, his plans could possibly be endangered.

He would have to keep an eye on the Akatsuki and get as much information as possible about its members.

* * *

Silence.

Only the sound of their footsteps was heard.

It was like this when Kimimaro and Haku set out of Naruto's room, walking in the direction of Orochimaru's chambers. Although the boy was sort of grateful for the silence, he was also a bit worried by it. Haku only stayed this quiet when something was in her mind and, considering the discussion she had with Naruto earlier, he could imagine what she was thinking about.

And he was right. Haku paid no attention to her surroundings, Naruto's words echoing in her head. Could he be right? Could her be something other than a tool, could she decide her own destiny?

"We are not tools." Kimimaro stopped, and so did she, when the almost inaudible whisper escaped her mouth. The Kaguya looked at her, a frown on his face.

"What did you say, Haku?"

"N-Nothing. I was just thinkin-"

"Then stop it." Haku was surprised, even more so when she saw how serious Kimimaro was. "You are thinking about what Naruto said, aren't you? I told you not to talk to him, now you know why. His stupid ideas will get him nowhere, and it only bring you problems if you listen to them. Just believe in Orochimaru-sama, he-"

"But what if he is right?" Haku shouted suddenly, surprising the Kaguya. "Sorry. But what if we don't need to follow Orochimaru?"

"Did you forget that he saved your life?" He asked calmly. "That should be enough reason for you to serve him. I will not argue further with you; if you want to continue serving him, so be it." As he approached her, he raised his hand, a bone protruding from it. The bone grew, stopping inches away from her face. "But if you try going against him, I will not show you mercy."

Turning, Kimimaro started walking again. He preferred not to do it; the girl was very much like him, he didn't want to hurt her. However, Orochimaru-sama stood above those petty feelings: if she did rebel, he would not hesitate to strike her down.

Haku kept in place, scared a bit by the threat; soon she finally calmed and resumed walking. However, the ideas implanted by Naruto's words kept in her head.

When she saw Orochimaru, she knew Naruto was right. She couldn't follow him.

And she wouldn't.

* * *

**Well, here is the new chapter. I was in a hurry to put this up, so I don't think it got as good as it could be.**

**I thank everyone who encourage me through reviews and PMs. I know I didn't do everything I said I would in the last chapter, but my ideas started changing while I wrote the chapter. To answer a common question:**

**No, I don't intend on having Naruto gain the Hyoton and Mokuton. Like Dyoudo said, it would make the character too overpowered and remove the fun of the story. Which challenge could he face if he had every powerful ability ever? I _may _change my mind on the Mokuton, which is why I left in the air this possiblity during the Zetsu transplant.**

**IMPORTANT: I won't be able to update for about a month, since I will be travelling to Canada in a few hours. I wanted to get this chapter out before I left, and I promise I will try revising it when I come back. Till then, good reading!**

**Next chapter highlights(this time it will be right): Time-skip, the end of Naruto's transplants, and the start of Naruto's escape.**


	5. Perfection: Achieved

For years, Konoha had tried planting spies in Orochimaru's forces. While it had been successful, many factors made their reports inaccurate; the most important one being the unknown number of bases the Snake Sannin had. Just the number they had infiltrated made the Sandaime Hokage nervous, especially knowing there were many more.

While the bases' external and internal appearance varied, there was one thing Orochimaru made sure to include in all of them: an arena, where he could fully test his experiments.

And it was in one of these arenas that our formerly blond protagonist stood; he was in the middle of the arena, crouched down and gasping.

"_Damnit! They just keep comin__-" _

_Behind you!_

It was that voice again; over the time, the voice was becoming more and more common. Not that Naruto minded, though. The voice was strangely comforting: it made him feel well after having to confront Orochimaru; made him feel happy when he was sad; reassured him whenever he felt like he wasn't himself anymore. He could say it was the closest thing to a parent he ever had, even if he had difficulty keeping contact with it.

And, as Naruto quickly turned around to block an incoming attack, he had to admit it was great in giving mid-battle advice.

The force of the attack, coupled with Naruto's lack of balance after standing up, threw the boy to the ground. Thinking quickly the fallen boy followed by raising his lower body, hitting his attacker with a kick and allowing a few moments for him to recover. The beast roared in rage; but before the clash could continue, it fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Recognizing the small, needle-like object that had impaled its neck, Naruto turned his head to the side and smiled at Haku; she briefly returned the smile before going back to fight another enemy.

It seemed that the fights were over.

"Well, that was very good, you three. It was even faster than the last time." The figure of Kabuto emerged from a gate on the side of the arena. The white-haired teenager looked over the area, noticing the many transfigured bodies lying on the ground.

Looking to his other side, Naruto wasn't surprised when he saw the many red puddles on the floor. And coming at his direction, walking over the corpses, was the man that had caused it.

Kimimaro.

"You know, Kimimaro, doing this will make Orochimaru-_sama_ run out of soldiers someday." Naruto remarked sarcastically.

As the boy came closer, Naruto could almost touch the air of arrogance around him. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the older boy.

"The loss of a few weaklings won't be missed. Even with all their advantages, they couldn't even hold their own against us." As he stopped in front of Naruto, Kimimaro pressed his foot on the chest of the unconscious man Naruto fought earlier. They kept their eyes locked all time, as if it was a staring contest. "They are nothing but trash, to the point Orochimaru-sama didn't even forbid us of killing them"

As if on cue, the fallen man's mouth opened suddenly; his mouth spewing blood. As the blood started pooling around him, Kimimaro lifted his foot; he had grown a bone spike on it, stabbing the man on the chest. A fatal blow.

Naruto gritted his teeth, while Kabuto looked amused.

It was obvious for the ones present that Kimimaro's action was intended as a challenge.

Haku sighed as she watched their interaction. It had been almost two years since she had met them; she could say they were almost like brothers to her. She had come to understand them, and sometimes she felt as if she knew them more than they knew themselves. And that is why she understood that Kimimaro's 'challenge' was the closest he could get to brotherly teasing.

Yes, a macabre, almost psychotic way of teasing. But still a brotherly teasing.

Whether he realized it or not, Kimimaro had come to see Naruto almost like a brother. He still disliked/hated him for his lack of respect towards Orochimaru and he would beat him down—and even maim—whenever they sparred. However, Haku could see that he had come to care a bit for the younger boy; between other things, she had observed that, even though he knew about Naruto's immortality, he still seemed to avoid hitting vital spots— well, other than the maiming thing.

Naruto, however, was totally oblivious to this. For him, the Kaguya simply hated him.

Back at the current situation, both boys were now glaring at each other. Naruto's eyes seemed to morph, his iris turning red and two comma-like symbols appearing in it. This, coupled with his grey-ish, ringed sclera, gave him a menacing look.

Looking at Kabuto, she understood he was not going to interfere. He probably wanted to see how far things would go. Sighing, she decided to do it herself.

"C'mon, boys. There is no point in fighting now." She stood between them, her arms raised to stop them from advancing. The two continued to stare each other down; both too proud—or too stubborn—to look away first.

In the end Kimimaro started walking away, going in Kabuto's direction. Naruto's eyes returned to his normal blue color, and he soon followed; a smirk in his face.

"Shall we go, then? Orochimaru-sama is waiting for you three." Kabuto said, before following through the gate he came from. Kimimaro followed right behind, with a rather reluctant Naruto and Haku after him.

Even after years, some things never changed.

Orochimaru was one of those things.

* * *

Orochimaru was happy.

Now, anyone who knew the man would shiver at this combination of words.

The sadistic Snake Sannin was watching the records of his… _students_' latest fight. It was amazing that they could hold their own against that many users of his Cursed Seal; true, they were nothing but mindless beasts, but their sheer number and brute strength should have been enough to compensate. Nostalgia overcame him, and he remembered when they could barely fight a single wave of enemies. They were progressing really fast; he had no doubt that, had they been in one of the Hidden Villages, they would have gotten fame as a new legendary trio.

However, he had no such ambitions for the 'children'.

"_Oh, how time flies…"_

He couldn't say they were children anymore, not after everything they had been through. It had been two years since he found Haku and Kimimaro, and started experimenting on Naruto. They were now shinobi; very well trained shinobi. After all, he had been responsible for the training they endured; both physically and psychologically.

Training Haku and Kimimaro proved to have very diverging results. Most information on their bloodline techniques had been lost during the purges, and the very little info that remained was tightly guarded in Kirigakure. Being an extremely secluded village, to the point that it didn't even partake on the Great Shinobi Wars, few knew about it's clans or had much info on their Kekkei Genkai. It was difficult to get spies in there, too.

Orochimaru never thought that it was worth it, anyway, so he never cared.

He was starting to see the mistakes of his past, of his lack of ambition. Oh, he would give anything to go back in time and remake all those now-fateful decisions. _"Kukuku, I guess it is living and learning"_

On the other hand, the children had proved to work well enough with alternative trainings. Kimimaro had already been trained by his clan—he was their ultimate weapon, after all—and only needed to refine his taijutsu. After finding out about his use of bones as swords, he had also decided to teach kenjutsu to the boy. The boy's elegant movements already foretold of a great swordsman; Orochimaru was almost sad that Naruto didn't show that amount of skill.

Haku was more difficult. The girl had lived her whole life as a peasant; not only had she **not** received any Hyoton—or even basic ninja—training, she was also unfit physically for the training. At first he didn't pay it much attention, intending to use some of the many chemicals he had developed to rapidly get her in shape. However, he had been advised against it by his researchers: while they were good for a quick boost in mass and strength, these substances carried a great risk on the long run. They would make her body dependant, causing bad side effects and forcing a continued usage; on the other hand, such a continued usage would overcharge her body, causing even her death.

He had to remember not to use them on his elite soldiers. His normal pawns were fine, though.

He couldn't risk it. Not only was her precious for her bloodline and talent, both Naruto and—to Orochimaru's surprise—Kimimaro quickly became attached to her. It was no surprise about his future vessel, considering she was one of the few people who treated him well, and he could understand Kimimaro's motives too. After all, she was a bloodline user like him, came from the same place as him, and also had her family killed; he probably saw her as a more fragile version of himself, and took to protect her. Orochimaru didn't know what was stronger: Kimimaro's loyalty to him or his intent to protect the girl.

Orochimaru had been disappointed when he found about it; he had managed to make Kimimaro all but worship him, but in the end this single factor had the potential of breaking apart the entire image he had created on the boy.

It was those kinds of emotions that ruined a shinobi. The emotions Orochimaru had forsaken long ago.

At first, the Snake Sannin had been frustrated at the impossibility of starting training the young girl. Without the knowledge on her clan's jutsu nor the physical preparation to endure the shinobi training, what could he do with the girl?

"_Of course. __A shinobi's strength is nothing if they don't have the intelligence to use it."_

Much to Orochimaru's delight, the girl proved to be very sharp minded. She was very observant, managing to analyze and come up with strategies with ease. It, coupled with her experiencing with her Kekkei Genkai, led him to see what he thought was the best path to take with her: medical training.

It was no joke. He knew first hand how useful medical knowledge was—he had been Tsunade's teammate, after all. Haku had the patience and analytical skills needed for a medic. And the knowledge of the human body would prove to be very useful; she was slowly learning to shape the ice into small objects, sort of like a senbon. Senbon users were always more dangerous when they knew the human anatomy.

With time, she would prove to be very promising.

As the years passed, she had learned basic medical jutsu with Kabuto; once she was deemed ready she received the basic ninja training, which proved to be less than a challenge. In this period, Orochimaru had his agents approach missing-nins from Kiri who had had contact with members of the Yuki clan. This had its worth, as he found out about other techniques they used. Who knew they could create nearly indestructible mirrors and even use then as a way to increase their speed? Some even believed they were teleporting!

Such ability could be very useful. Of course, he was still working on 'helping' Haku learn this technique.

On the matter of loyalty, though, it was still an incognita. While the girl was respectful towards him, he could see she didn't nurture the same idolatry as Kimimaro. The fact that she was very close to Naruto was also worrying, especially because of their talk when they first met. He had, of course, found ways of keeping her on his side: she felt sort of indebted towards him because he saved her life—"_How naïve_"—and he was sure she would not forget it.

He would make sure she did not forget.

She would never turn her back to him.

Orochimaru smirked, feeling proud after reminiscing about the Kiri children. He already had plans for them. He was thinking about creating an elite team of maybe four or five young shinobi; he had already found other potential members, a boy with the nearly-extinct Soma no Ko Kekkei Genkai, and another one with eight arms—Orochimaru himself didn't know the origin of such an anomaly.

However, neither of them compared to his masterpiece. As he looked at Naruto's fight against the Cursed Seal users, he watched in delight as he made use of his new powers. While he didn't seem to know the Rinnegan's powers, like the jutsu Pain used on the Ame-nins, he was getting proficient on the usage of Kakuzu's stitches.

While the boy lacked Kimimaro's elegant ruthlessness or Haku's analytical skills, Naruto was very creative. He could come up with the most astonishing strategies mid-battle, and considering his large variety of abilities this versatility could allow the boy to counter pretty much every situation. He was almost fearful of the boy's power.

_Almost._

He made sure not to overpower the boy. None of his men were allowed to use ninjutsu in his presence. While he did allow the boy to learn how to use Kakuzu's abilities, mostly because of his own curiosity about it, as well as chakra strings, he made sure that he didn't learn to use Zetsu's or Konan's. As curious as he was about the mechanics behind those powers, he knew that it would be impossible to keep the boy locked if he used them. He could pretty much go to the other side of the world with Zetsu's jutsu, and he doubted whether his men would be capable of stopping a flock of paper sheets.

Watching the confrontation between Kimimaro and Naruto after the clash was over, Orochimaru's eyes seemed to shine as he took a close look at his future vessel's eyes. He had been amazed when he first saw it, and it still amazed him to this day. The perfect combination of the two ultimate doujutsu, his eyes seemed like a whole new Kekkei Genkai. It was basically equal to Pain's Rinnegan, but his iris kept the same blue tone of before. When activating the Sharingan, it would turn red and the tomoe would appear on the Rinnegan's rings.

It was as if the two doujutsu were meant to be together.

As if, in a distant past, they had been one.

* * *

"Are you sure about it, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Yes. I have matters to attend back in Otogakure, and I can't postpone it anymore." Said Orochimaru, looking at his young assistant.

"Sir, I know that the time for your transfer is getting closer. I don't think it's wise to travel all the way to the Rice Country now." Had he not known the boy, Orochimaru would have thought he was worried.

"Kukuku. Don't worry, Kabuto. I'm still strong enough to protect myself. But if it makes you feel better, I will be taking Kimimaro with me"

Looking at him with a critical eye, Orochimaru searched for anything that could give out the boy's true intentions. A minor twitch, a slight movement of his eyes, sweating… Nothing. The boy had gotten even better at hiding his true self, especially after Sasori's control over him was broken a few months before. Though the boy had sworn loyalty to the Snake Sannin, he still felt something was off about him.

He would not be surprised if Kabuto had planned to have someone ambush him during his trip to Otogakure.

"That is not the problem, sir. I know there are still a few months left, but we need to get prepared to extract the Kyuubi. We don't have a method as sophisticated as Akatsuki's, and even their method take a couple days." Argued the teenager.

"Don't worry so much. Here, this will keep you occupied until I return" Saying this, he fished a small vial from his the pocket of his cloth.

Taking it, Kabuto soon recognized what it was. But… who was it from?

"Your information was very useful. That 'Deidara' was a very interesting shinobi." Said Orochimaru, answering Kabuto's unspoken question. "Very skilled. Some of his clay bombs were quite elusive; I had to take the sample myself, which was quite difficult considering I had to get him away from Sasori."

"I thought you said that his power was not needed for now? Why the sudden change?"

"It's… just a feeling. I guess you can say that, sometimes, I resemble my old partner a lot."

Kabuto looked back at the vial in his hands. Deidara was, from what he got, a user of the Bakuton Kekkei Genkai. He used the mouths on his hand—which Kabuto guessed was part of the bloodline—to knead chakra into clay, creating explosive constructs. It would be worrying if Naruto learned how to use it.

Orochimaru knew it, too.

But sometimes, he just got tired of waiting.

* * *

As the scientists walked all over the room, checking the machines and their readings, Kabuto couldn't help thinking about everything that had happened.

Just a few months ago, he had been an undercover agent of Sasori. He didn't even know it; apparently, it was some kind of jutsu of Sasori's. He had placed a needle into his brain, more specifically on the part that controlled his memory; thanks to a seal in it the puppet-master could destroy the object at any time, making the victim recover his memory of Sasori. Orochimaru had been suspicious of spies when one of his bases was raided by 'men wearing black cloaks with red cloud', and found it was Kabuto.

But, instead of killing him, Orochimaru offered him the other face. He 'forgave' him, and gave him the chance of continuing his work. Even more: the chance to get revenge on Sasori for sending him to an almost suicide mission.

Now, Kabuto had no ill-will towards Sasori. But the opportunities he had by working with Orochimaru… he would never have again in his life. He could study things many Hidden Villages didn't even know exist, experiment things most would not allow for moral reasons, discover things many thought impossible.

This was a dream for anyone who sought knowledge.

For anyone who sought power.

For anyone like him.

On the other hand, he couldn't just let go of Sasori. It was not out of gratitude for something he did, nor for any care he had for the puppeteer. It was, putting it bluntly, for political reasons.

Kabuto was a teenager, merely sixteen years old, but he was far from being inexperienced. Some were born in prestigious families, with Kekkei Genkai or under the shadow of a legendary ancestor, while others were born without anything like this, being nobodies in the bigger picture. A nobody needed to work harder to become someone but, above everything, they had to have allegiances.

A nobody would never rise if he was not on the victorious side.

Kabuto knew he was a nobody, he had no illusions about it. Being on Orochimaru's side would allow him to sharpen his skills, the first step for success, but he also knew that the Snake Sannin was the worst side to be in. It was alone in the world, with both Konoha and Akatsuki against him—plus other villages would not hesitate to attack him. It would be less than wise to believe that Orochimaru was the safest choice for an allegiance.

On the other side, Akatsuki was still hidden from the villages' views, and kept a relatively good relationship with Iwagakure. It would be foolish to sever his ties with Sasori so as to stay on the severely unstable side of Orochimaru. And then there was Konoha, the strongest of the Hidden Villages; Kabuto was a genin in there, and he could very well rise up in the ranks in case things went badly with his other allegiances.

He would make full use of anything he could to rise. He would, one day, cease being everyone's underling.

For now, he would keep doing what he was doing. He would spy Orochimaru for Sasori and the Akatsuki for Orochimaru; of course, leaving out some things from both sides.

"Kabuto-san?"

Waking up from his musings, Kabuto turned to look at one of the scientists. "Yes? What is it?"

"We have finished the tests on the boy. You said you wanted to be informed?"

"Oh! Yes, of course. Though I don't think that would be necessary, we just need to look at him to see if it was successful."

The scientist looked confused at hearing this. "How so? We have inspected the boy and there were no physical alterations in him."

"What?" For a moment, the man was surprised to see Kabuto lose his calm posture. Taking the report from the scientist's hands, he rushed over to where Naruto's body was being removed from a cooling tank, which was now filled with the Kyuubi's red chakra.

Kabuto pushed on of the workers away and hastily grabbed the boy's limp arm. Taking a look at his palm, he saw that the mouth was not there.

"_What__? Has the experiment failed?_" Looking over the reports, he couldn't see anything wrong. All that was written there indicated a successful experiment, but what he was looking at was not. "How can this be?"

"It seems the Kekkei Genkai implanted gave an _explosive_ property to the boy's chakra. Here, I think it's better to follow me"

With that, the scientist took Kabuto to the other side of the room. The white-haired teenager noticed that the others were doing the same, apparently keeping distance from the cooling tank were Naruto had been. Before he could ask what was happening, his question was answered when he heard a sound.

For a moment, the rebellious red chakra seemed to stop and its uncommon color seemed to intensify.

The next moment, Kabuto had to bring his arm up to protect himself as the tank exploded.

* * *

He didn't know how long he was unconscious.

When he woke up, that first thing he did was gather his chakra to heal his wounds—they were hurting pretty badly. Next, he remembered what happened.

Looking around him, he saw that most of the laboratory had been destroyed. Some of the scientists were standing up, visibly hurt, while others were already up and checking if everything was alright.

Ever since the discovery about Naruto's rejection of the Kyuubi's chakra two years ago, Orochimaru made it a point to place the seal on Naruto before making the transplants. They had now an enormous amount of chakra, which was stored in the main base at Otogakure. They were still researching ways of using those reserves efficiently.

One thing they had discovered was that, sometimes, a bit of the boy's own chakra was expelled with the Kyuubi's. The Bakuton was, from what he had gathered, a bloodline which gave the user the ability to make his chakra explosive. No wonder, the clash of the boy's explosive chakra with that of the Kyuubi's had caused this; this was worrisome, as this meant the boy was basically a walking time-bomb whenever he called the fox's powers.

Or maybe this was only because it was outside of the boy's body. Otherwise, the Bakuton would be useless if the user would self-destruct out of the blue.

As he finished recovering, Kabuto stood up and walked over to where Naruto was. Checking again for any signs of extra mouths, and finding none, he grabbed the boy and carried him away.

As he carried Naruto back to his room, he couldn't help wondering about this strange outcome. True, from what he got of Deidara's Kekkei Genkai the mouths were not part of it, and no normal transplant would allow him to infuse chakra into the clay through them. His guess would be that it was some kind of jutsu.

"_But then, why had it not passed over to him too? After all, Kakuzu's_-"

Kabuto stopped abruptly, his eyes shining as he got the answer for his dilemma. Of course! The interior of Naruto's body had already been changed thanks to Kakuzu's transplant, when the Jiongu had passed over to him. Whatever jutsu it was that caused these hands, it was in direct conflict with the changes caused by the Jiongu, meaning that Naruto's body had to choose between the two; no wonder, it chose the one that was already in effect. Chances were, once the Kyuubi got back it would reject the genetic material responsible for the mouths since the body hadn't integrated it yet.

It made him wonder if Naruto would ever be able to fully turn into paper. The boy probably hadn't noted but he had shown to have some kind of control over paper, showing that the experiment worked; but turning his whole body into it, that was another question.

Having arrived at the boy's room, he placed him on the bed before searching for something in his pockets.

"Come on, don't tell me I lost it…"

Finally finding what he was looking for, he pulled out a small pill and placed it in Naruto's mouth. Grabbing the boy's chin, he forced him to bite it; its contents being swallowed by the unconscious boy.

It was a soldier pill. It wouldn't be long now until the boy woke up.

"Get up soon, Naruto. You still have your part to play."

With that said he stood up and walked to the door. Opening it, he was not surprised to see who was on the other side, about to knock on the door.

"Oh, hi Haku-chan. Good to see you. What brings you here?"

"Hello, Kabuto-san. I didn't know if you were still here; I wanted to know if Naruto was okay."

Kabuto faked confusion. "Why would he not be?"

"Everyone heard the explosion on the laboratory, and they said Naruto was there at the time…"

Kabuto chuckled, amused at the girl's worry. She was truly attached to the boy.

He wondered if it was just a fraternal feeling, or if there was something else behind it.

"He is okay. Don't forget: he is immortal." Turning a bit, he allowed her to see Naruto's unconscious form in the bed. He heard a soft sigh from her. "We were doing another transplant on him before the… _accident_. He should be up in a few minutes."

Looking back at her, he finished with a smile. "Why don't you stay here until he wakes up? I am sure he would appreciate waking up with you at his side…"

Barely avoiding blushing at Kabuto's hidden meaning, she answered. "I-I'm sorry, but I can't. You see, I have to-"

"Oh, don't worry. Orochimaru-sama is on Otogakure now, and I believe the one in charge will not mind you staying with Naruto a bit." Of course, _he _was the one in charge. She was still reluctant. "Now, don't be shy. Come in."

Understanding that there was no escape, Haku sighed and walked in.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she briefly touched Naruto's face before caressing his hair. She couldn't help but smile when he seemed to moan, moving a bit towards the caress. The smile stayed as she observed him, faintly noticing that there were no other changes from the transplant.

So engrossed was she on the unconscious boy, she didn't notice that Kabuto hadn't left yet.

As he stood at the door, looking at the scene, Kabuto couldn't help smiling a bit. He quietly closed the door, avoiding making sounds to perturb the young 'couple'.

Like Naruto, he still had his part to do.

* * *

Orochimaru had made a point to hide well his bases. From isolated islands in the Water Country to the desert of Wind Country, there was no distinguishable pattern on his bases localizations.

One of those multiple bases was located on a mountainous area, in a small country bordering the Fire and Rice ones. Deep within the mountains, there was an enormous mesa; from all sides of it, there were caves which would lead to the center of the mesa. Within the mesa was located Orochimaru's base, impossible to be found by anyone except those who knew where it was.

And that was exactly why they found it.

Standing atop one of the mountains that surrounded Orochimaru's mesa were ten people. A small squad, their cloths showing that they were high-ranking shinobi. Between them, one stood out: it was a really tall man, easily towering over the others. He wore a dark cape which hid his body and a straw hat; under the hat there was a white cloth, covering the sides of his head and also the lower half of his face.

The man's imposing figure indicated him as the leader.

"Is this the place our informant was talking about?" The man asked, turning around to look at the others. One of them confirmed, and he looked back at the mesa. "So, we just need to wait for the signal now."

A few more minutes passed, and the men were starting to get worried. They could see that their leader was getting impatient, and this was never a good thing.

After a few more minutes, and the signal came.

From the other side of the mesa, standing atop another mountain, another squad of ten shinobi stood. Moving their hands in an incredible speed, they eventually came to a halt by smashing their palms against the earth.

The next moment, all sound seemed to dissipate. The silence which reigned for a second was deafening, was a prelude to a disaster.

The calm before the storm.

The next moment, all sound came back full force. The sound the earth shaking, of rocks falling, of the quick changing of a landscape, of a landslide of epic proportions.

As the men hit their hands on the ground, the mountains came crashing down around them. In a matter of seconds the natural stronghold that protected the mesa became a natural weapon, crashing onto it and covering most of its caves. The mountain where the first group stood was not affected, and in the aftermath of the mountain-slide they were facing the only caves that were not covered by the earth.

The base was most likely in chaos now, partially destroyed as the merciless earth invaded and destroyed everything in its way, with the survivors trying to find a way out.

A path that would lead to _them_.

"Let's go! Enter the tunnels!"

Soon enough the team was jumping down the surviving mountain, separating and entering the remaining tunnels.

They would find him, no matter what.

* * *

**Well, here it is! It has been two months and I'm really, really sorry for making everyone wait this much. I really am. I hate waiting for updates as much as many of you do; I promise I won't take that long again. **

**Anyway, I haven't really answered to the last reviews either, sorry. I thank everyone that has kept reviewing, as well as those that took their time to review each chapter. I also noticed that another person took up the Perfection challenge; it seems pretty good.**

**Canada was a great place, met some really good people and the cold is actually something I enjoy a lot(which is strange, considering I live in Rio de Janeiro). I also decided to make Deidara's power into the story, but with a twist. Like before, Mokuton is still a possibility, as well as a few 'surprises' I have in mind. (watch me fail at trying to get people interested)**

**Anyway, story wise: Kabuto is starting to show his true colors, I quite enjoyed writing him. ****I'm starting to get a more inclined to the ** NaruHaku pairing, though again ITS NOT YET SET. Samehada has not yet appeared, I know, but it will eventually come into play. Also the people at the end are not OCs.

**Next chapter: The attack continues, and Naruto wakes up. Will he manage to escape? And who are the attackers?  
I will try to get it out next weekend. Till then, good week! **


	6. Fighting to Escape

_**The Day Before**_

"_You are doing really __well, Naruto-kun. If I hadn't seen the difficulty you had at the start, I would say you are a natural."_

_The aforementioned boy paid little to no attention to the praise, skillfully moving his fingers to move the wood construct Kabuto called a 'training puppet'. According to him it was the same thing as a battle puppet, but without weapons. _

_They didn't trust him with weapons. Not that they were wrong, though._

_Kabuto __was training Naruto on his chakra control and puppetry. It was already part of their routine, and it wasn't broken even by Orochimaru's trip to Otogakure. Of course, they both acted as if it was of no importance, as if it was just a normal day like any other; but the truth was far from it. Both of them were already machinating plans on their minds, plans that required the absence of the Snake Sannin. _

_Naruto did his best to keep his concentration on the task at hand, but he couldn't help trying to formulate a plan of escape. It was almost a habit of his, trying to come up with plans for an impossible escape. They had never been put into action; most of the time he ended up needing to have help from someone else, something he didn't have. But it never put him down; he would always keep alive the hope of leaving this wretched place, as well as... _

"_Tell me, boy, have you ever thought of leaving this place?"_

_For a moment, Naruto almost lost his concentration__. Looking up, he noticed Kabuto looking at him, his expression as unreadable as ever. There was a silence after that, Naruto not trusting himself to answer._

_Kabuto smirked a bit. "Well, why don't you answer? I mean, we both know the answer to it. Or are you gonna tell me you like it here?" The boy looked away, returning to his training. Kabuto resealed the scroll on puppetry he had been reading, idly fingering the scorpion symbol in it. "What would you say if I told you 'I am willing to help'?"_

_This time__ Naruto DID lose his concentration, the puppet falling limp to the ground. Looking at Kabuto's grinning face, Naruto felt a shiver; why would he do something like it? Was he testing him, or maybe trying to trick him?_

"_I would say, 'Why would you do it'? What would you gain from it?"_

_Kabuto's smirk widened. "Would you believe that I had a change of heart and wished to redeem myself by saving you from this place?" At Naruto's incredulous face, he chuckled. "Yeah, I wouldn't either. But my motives do not matter, what matters is that I am willing to help you. Isn't that enough, Naruto-kun?"_

_Naruto was still unnerved. He had an eerie feeling about this, something was telling him—no, it was not the 'voice'—that t__here was something wrong with the proposal. He felt it hard to believe that Kabuto would betray his boss._

_And he voice__d that opinion. _

"_You have to understand that things aren't as black-and-white as you think. Orochimaru is my boss, true, but it doesn't mean that I have to follow him blindly like Kimimaro does. I have to look for myself too, after all. And I can guarantee you that I will gain more from helping you than you think." This last part was meant to reassure the boy, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. Seeing this, he quickly amended to correct his mistake. "If you wish for, I can even help you get Haku out too. What you say?"_

_From the surprised look, __Kabuto could see that he managed to hit the right spot. Naruto wouldn't pass up the chance to save his only friend from being a servant of Orochimaru._

_The bait was set. __It was all in Naruto's hands now._

"_If… If I accepted… What would the plan be like?"_

_Kabuto smirked; the fish had been caught. He started explaining__ his plan; it involved the transplant that was set for the next day and a little distraction he had arranged for…_

* * *

**Fighting to Escape**

_What…_

_What is this?_

Of all ways to wake up, especially considering the situation he was in, that was one Naruto didn't expect. But he didn't complain either.

Keeping his eyes closed, enjoying the caress he was receiving, he couldn't help imagining who was the one caressing him. His first thought was Haku, which would make sense considering the gentleness of the touch and the softness of the hand that did it. However, his mind couldn't dwell much in this strangely good thought, instead going down a darker path: what if it was Kabuto? Unless he was delirious and the meeting with the older boy had never happened, Kabuto was the one supposed to be waking him up. And it would not be uncommon for the teen to try pulling one of these… What did he call it? A prank?

Then Naruto's mind delved into an even darker thought, and he remembered a certain Snake Sannin…

"Get away from me, you fucking snake!"

Without even noticing Naruto had not only yelled but also bolted upwards. Opening his eyes, he saw that the person was indeed Haku.

Scared at the sudden outburst, the girl had jumped away too, not understanding what had happened but feeling embarrassed for some unknown motive. _"Wait, what am I embarrassed for? I did nothing wrong!"_

Seeing his mistake, Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Hehe, sorry Haku-chan. I thought it was someone else…"

"That's okay." Said Haku, not wanting him to continue with the subject. Instead, she asked: "So, are you feeling anything different? You just got back from another experiment."

Stopping to think about it, Naruto got up and walked to the bathroom. Looking at the mirror, he saw nothing different from before: half of him was still a bit paler than the other, the sclera of his eyes was still grey-ish with a ring on it, his iris was still blue, his hair was still a spiky mess of silver… It seemed like nothing had changed. He briefly remembered having another transplant that hadn't changed anything either, so he just shrugged.

Walking back to the room, he saw Haku was sitting with her back to him. _"Why did she change her position?"_ He was about to open his mouth to ask…

"We will talk _after_ you put your clothes on"

…but she beat him to it. Looking down slowly, he noticed she was right; they hadn't noticed since he was under the covers, but now…

Well, know he knew why it was colder than normal.

Walking to fetch his clothes, he was sure that his paler half was red from embarrassment. Worst of all, he could faintly hear what felt like laughter echoing inside his head; was the 'voice' laughing at him?

Understanding that he reached the lowest point possible, in which even an _imaginary_ voice—_"Maybe insulting it will make it stop?"_—was laughing at him, Naruto quickly put his cloths on and sit back in the bed. Neither he nor Haku looked at each other, both too embarrassed to start their conversation again.

They stood like this for quite some time, sitting with their backs facing each other, neither willing to start a conversation. Naruto was having an internal fight against the voice, trying to shut it up; the laughing would sometimes get even louder, and he was sure he heard something similar to a mockery coming from it at one point. Strangely enough, Naruto didn't feel offended or angry at it; it was actually refreshing, comforting. He envisioned it similar to a banter between a kid and its parents.

Meanwhile, Haku deep in thought. She understood now why Kabuto was so eager to have her stay with Naruto, and couldn't help remembering the grin on his face. Differently from Naruto, this did irritate her. "Damn you, Kabuto…"

Hearing these words seemed to make something click on Naruto's head, and he quickly turned around to face Haku. "Wait, was it Kabuto that sent you here?"

Turning herself slightly to look at him, she replied. "Yeah, but he conveniently forgot to tell-"

"Ahaha! Then he was telling the truth!" Naruto's sudden outburst caught Haku by surprise. "Okay, now we need to think how we are going to do it…"

"Wait. Wait a minute. What are you talking about?"

"About the escape, of course! What else could it be?" So happy he was, Naruto did not notice the look of confusion—and maybe even fear—in Haku's face. "Kabuto is going to help us escape, he is going to set up a distraction for us, and he even got you to join… didn't he?"

As he calmed down and the momentary feeling of ecstasy started to dispel, Naruto started to understand the situation from the look on her face. And the happy feeling was slowly substituted by one of disappointment and, strangely enough, betrayal.

"He… He lied?"

Haku sighed, noticing the dejected tone of his voice. "Naruto, Kabuto is one of Orochimaru's followers. Why would he betray him like that?"

"'Things aren't as black-and-white as you think'. I don't know what he could gain from it, but he said he would gain a lot more than I could think. I don't know, but I don't think he was lying."

"Shinobi like him are used to lying. And are good at it. It makes others believe in them."

_But sometimes__ a truth is better than a lie_

"But sometimes a truth is better than a lie." Naruto repeated the words of the voice, and he couldn't help but think it made sense. "He might not be lying; even if he didn't talk to you, he DID take you here. The plan might still be going."

Haku sighed again. It did make some kind of sense, but still… "Okay, if we believe in Kabuto: what is the plan?"

As Naruto opened his mouth to explain it to her, he suddenly stopped. As he seemed to consider what to say, he lifted his hand to his head, scratching it and looking sheepishly at Haku.

The girl already knew she wouldn't like what he was going to say.

"Well… I don't know exactly-"

And she didn't. "WHAT?"

"We wait for his distraction and then get out of here. He said the base would be in chaos, and we would know what to do then!"

"Did he at least explain what the distraction would be?"

"No. He said we would know when it happened." Naruto looked at her, seeing the hesitation on her face. But he was determined to get them both away. "C'mon! This may be the only chance we have of leaving Orochimaru's grasp! I promise you that I will protect you, no matter what; is that enough?"

Haku was taken back at hearing this. It was… kind of him, and she could see in his eyes that he really meant to keep that promise. His determination was motivating to anyone, and she felt like she couldn't say no to him.

As such, the analytical side of her was already trying to find a way for it to work. They needed some kind of plan, but without knowing what Kabuto's distraction would be it was impossible to make a reliable plan. Still, she already knew what they needed: they needed a generalizing, not too specific plan that could be easily modified at the spot. They needed to be able to adapt to the situation, whatever it may be.

"First of all, we need to think things clearly…"

* * *

"Just how long are we gonna have to wait?"

Looking over at the mountains on the other side of the mesa, the man could see the others were as impatient as he himself was. They knew this was not something good; Han was well known for having a short-temper. The more they waited, the more the chance that he would lash out at his squad.

"Captain Kitsuchi! We got confirmation!" Turning around, Kitsuchi looked at one of the shinobi's from his squad—a sensor. "Our informant has left the base, we are clear to start the invasion."

Grinning, Kitsuchi looked back at the mesa. "_About time_"

"Let's do it!" The squad moving in position, their hands went into a flurry of hand seals before finally coming to a halt as the ten shinobi smashed their palms on the earth. What followed amazed even the ones who did it.

With the mountains coming down around them, Kitsuchi could only pity whoever survived the landslide.

It would be better to die buried by it than having to face Han afterwards.

* * *

"C'mon, Haku! Can't you just accept that you can't come up with a plan this time?"

"Shut up, Naruto."

Haku sighed, trying to ignore Naruto's smug smirk. But she knew he was right; there were too many variables in play, she was unable to make a plan for this situation. If at least she knew what the distraction would be, things would be a lot less complicated…

"What do you suggest, then?"

"We can just improvise-"

Naruto didn't even get to finish his sentence as, without warning, everything started shaking. So much was the tremor that, for a moment, they thought the walls would give out; Naruto was thrown to the ground in surprise, Haku following. It continued for a few more seconds, but anyone who felt it would think that it continued for hours. As the tremor finally subsided, Naruto managed to stand up.

"What… What the hell happened?"

He was confused, but Haku wasn't. Suddenly she was on her feet. "That's probably what Kabuto was talking about. Come on, let's go!"

These few words managed to turn Naruto's confusion into excitement. He didn't think twice before following Haku as she dashed to the door and into the corridor outside; he could not go around freely in the base, so he didn't know the way out. As they kept doing turns on the paths, he could see that the place was almost like a maze; he didn't think about how big the place was before. He was kind of glad Haku knew the way.

Like Kabuto had said, the place was in total chaos. Soldiers and scientists alike were running around frantically; he and Haku did their best to keep out of their way and not get caught, but they seemed too much in a hurry to notice then.

"Here, there is an exit after this tur-"

Haku and Naruto stopped right after making a turn. If there had been an exit or not, there surely wasn't one now. There was earth blocking the way, not only having come from the outside but also from the ceiling. It felt like there was some kind of landslide; still, Naruto guessed Orochimaru wouldn't be stupid enough to leave things unprotected like this. Even if he didn't care about his subordinates, he would at least protect the experiments within the base—like him, for example.

Just what had Kabuto done?

Haku was also asking herself the same thing. Throughout their run through the base she noticed it felt… different.

Many of the paths were leading into dead ends that were not there before, she was sure.

People were way too desperate to leave the place.

Could it be that…

"Are there other ways out?"

Haku was forced out of her musings when Naruto asked her. "Yes, yes there are other exits."

"Then let's go!" As soon as these words left Naruto's mouth, he was already on the run. Haku barely had time to comprehend his words as she suddenly found herself running to catch up to him.

She knew he had a tendency to get too carried on, and this situation wouldn't be an exception. But still…

"Hey, slow down a bit Naruto! This isn't the way!"

* * *

"Pfff, these are Sound shinobi? Even our chunin know how to fight better!"

"And what were you expecting, to face Konoha-nins?"

"Well, he could have hired a better village at least!"

As the three jonin continued their march into the base, they had no mercy of the enemies that stood in their way. The hallway they walked through was already littered with the bodies of the fallen Oto-nins.

"You think Orochimaru is still in here?"

"Well, from what the informant said, he was still in the base." Looking around, the man noticed the destruction on the hallway. Part of the ceiling had given out after the mountain-slide, and their path had been partially blocked by the earth. "Eh, Captain Kitsuchi's squad really did a number on this place."

"Don't mention it; it looks like this place will give out at anytime." They both passed through the pathway; on the other side, there was a door on the left.

With a quick glance at each other, they already understood what to do. Drawing their weapons, they closed in on the door: it was a door like any other but it had a small opening, similar to a small window, allowing for them to see the inside. Not that it made any difference: it was too dark and, from what it seemed, part of the ceiling had fallen inside.

Nodding at each other, one made a slash with his sword, breaking the door hinges; another tackled it, and the third quickly followed, getting inside and preparing to defend against any incoming attacker.

They were ready to fight off any enemies that might have been hidden, but soon found out it wasn't needed. They were actually quite shocked at what they saw.

The ground was filled with bodies. There were multiple debris, probably having been the cause of most deaths; however, at a closer inspection, the jonin saw that the most of the dead seemed to have already been on bad conditions. Most of the bodies showed signs of malnourishment. Worse yet, most of them seemed like they were just kids, probably younger than fresh genins!

"What the hell is this?" Said one of the jonin, shocked by what he was seeing. Even war prisoners were treated better.

"They were probably kept as guinea pigs." Said another one. "That Orochimaru was a rea-Hey, what are you doing?"

As two of the men were too shocked to do anything, the third one had already moved to inspect the corpses. Shocking as the scene may have been, they were trained shinobi on a mission; they could not lose time like this.

To his surprise, not all was lost in the room.

"There are survivors"

Quickly joining him, the Iwa shinobi noticed he was right.

A small boy, his hair a bluish/grey color, was squirming on the ground. He seemed very fragile and injured, trying without results to stand.

"Shit. The boy won't last long, any of you know medical techniques?" The silence was a negative. Looking at the side, he saw the man that found the boy with a kunai in hand. "What are you going to do, Ittan?"

Sighing, the oldest of the trio got closer to the boy, kunai in hand. "It's better to just kill him already, put him out of his misery."

Standing over the boy, he raised his hand; neither of his companions looking like they would stop him. But the boy seemed to understand the situation, or at least his instinct did: reaching out with his fragile hand, he managed to grasp the man's ankle. The movement made the man stop his action and, looking downward, he was surprised at what he saw.

"Ittan?"

"Check the other kids, see if any more of them are alive. FAST!"

The men were surprised at this and, without thinking twice, proceeded to follow the others. Meanwhile, Ittan crouched to take a closer look at the boy. He seemed to have passed out, and with this something happened.

A patch of hair had grown from his back, attached to a second head.

Whatever that meant, he was not sure. But probably there were other kids in there with those mutations. If it was a Kekkei Genkai…

Iwagakure's forces might have just stumbled on a mine of gold.

* * *

"Damn, this one is blocked too."

"Aww, c'mon! Can't we find a single exit that hasn't been blocked yet?"

Blocking out Naruto's complaints, Haku felt herself getting more and more worried. Truth be told, she already guessed this exit would be blocked; but still, she had hope. But that hope was just crushed.

She was certain now that the base was under attack. All the western exits had been blocked, she didn't know how, and everyone was fleeing to the eastern ones—this explained why they hadn't seen anyone in such a long time—where the attackers had probably set up an ambush. If she and Naruto stayed away from the exits, they would never get out of here; moreover, they would likely come inside to search whatever they were attacking the base for and most likely destroy the base afterwards.

It was a no-win situation for the duo, and she knew it.

"Let's find another way out."

"Wait Naruto." This time Haku managed to grab Naruto before he ran away, making him stop. "It's useless."

"What are you talking about?"

Haku proceeded to explain the situation to Naruto; about the attack and how the attackers would most likely ambush them if they left. Naruto listened quietly. As she finished, he finally opened his mouth.

"If these guys are Kabuto's distraction, they might have come for us Haku!"

She shook her head. "Kabuto would have told you to wait for them. I guess they don't even know about us."

Naruto looked unabashed. "Well, if that is the case then we just got to get past them. If we can distract them for a little…"

Haku was surprised by his reaction. "Naruto" He looked at Haku, her eyes slightly narrowed. "Is there something you didn't tell me?"

The boy just looked sheepishly, bringing a hand to scratch his head. This was enough of an answer for Haku.

"There was something else with the plan that you didn't tell me, am I right? Why did you hide it from me?"

"Well… hmm… You will see for yourself. Now we need to find that way out, okay?"

Haku couldn't help think it strange that he would be so evasive, but decided to let it slide. He couldn't be doing something bad, she felt it. So…

"Come this way."

Soon enough they were dashing through the corridors again, going through rooms and turns and avoiding finding one of the attackers.

But destiny had a strange way of working. The twists and turns may have allowed them to evade most enemies, the normal ones that the duo could _maybe_ afford to confront, but eventually led them to the one that they certainly wouldn't want to meet.

* * *

"_This base is located on a mountainous area between the Fire and Rice countries, it is almost like a giant wasteland. Normally it would take days for you to reach anywhere." He then proceeded to take a scroll he had been carrying before. __"But with this, you two can go whenever you want to after the escape, in no time at all."_

_Taking the scroll offered by Kabuto, Naruto opened it to see a storage symbol in it. He was about to open it…_

"_I wouldn't advise doing that in here, Naruto-kun."_

…_Naruto stopped in his action, looking back at Kabuto. "And why not? What is in it?"_

_Kabuto smirked before responding. "There is enough paper stored in there to cover this entire room."_

_For a moment, Naruto felt like his heart skipped a beat. Doing his best not to show and trying to recompose himself, he faked a glare as he answered the older boy. "What is this, some kind of joke?"_

_Hearing Naruto say it almost made Kabuto laugh, especially considering his reaction before it. A smirk grew on his face and he leaned forward, whispering as if scared that anyone else might hear them—and unconsciously __making his next words seem menacing. "We both know that this is no joke, Naruto-kun. And you are creative enough to know what to do with it." Leaning back, he could see the astonished—and almost frightened—look on Naruto's face; then, he answered the boy's unasked question. "Don't worry, no one else knows about this. I myself had doubts until a few moments ago. By the way, you have to get a better grip of your emotions; can't let yourself get caught off-guard like that."_

_There was a silence following this, their training having been forgotten by now. __Kabuto silently observed the boy as he looked at the scroll in his hands; he seemed in deep thought, probably wondering whether this was true or not. _

_Thorn on whether he should trust Kabuto or not._

_Kabuto had to admit: he__ would miss the boy. But above all, he would miss messing with his head like this._

"_So… do you have any idea of where to go after this?"_

"_Hm?" Naruto looked up, surprised at the break of silence._

"_Have you thought about where you are going to after you leave?"_

"_Not really." Naruto replied. "I mean, the Water Country is already out of question; and I would prefer not to go to Konohagakure either."_

_Kabuto seemed a bit surprised by that statement. "Why is that?"_

"_That's where Orochimaru came from, right? I don't want anything to do with such a place."_

* * *

"This base just keeps getting stranger…"

It did not take a genius to know that something was wrong in this situation, and Naruto was certainly not a stupid person. However, never having seen the entirety of the base he was in, he was not sure what was normal or not in there.

And he wouldn't put it past Orochimaru to have put this thick, strange mist in here.

"Be careful, there is something wrong here." Said Haku, assuming a defensive stance; of course, Naruto had difficulty seeing it thanks to the mist. Still, he assumed the same stance and activated the Sharingan, understanding that this was not normal.

Even with the Sharingan active, Naruto could not see anything. As they kept on their way through the mist, the feeling of danger kept getting stronger; a few steps later and Naruto tripped on something, almost falling to the ground as a result.

"_What's this?"_

Crouching, Naruto carefully extended his hand and touched whatever it was that he tripped over. Passing his hand over it, he frowned; it felt like a piece of cloth. But why would a piece of cloth make him fall over? Soon his hand fell on something with a different texture, almost like…

'_Oh shit_'

As soon as he thought it a strong gust of wind seemed to run through the area, blowing part of the mist away and clearing their sight enough so they could see their surroundings.

And what he saw was not a nice sight.

The 'thing' he had tripped over—and was touching—was the body of a Sound shinobi. Or rather, the _corpse_ of a Sound shinobi. He was not bleeding, nor had signs of having been attacked but his body seemed a bit emaciated, almost as if he had dehydrated; his skin was also severely burned, scalded. Turning around, he was shocked to see that the rest of the hallway was filled with bodies on similar condition.

A few feet away from him Haku also stood in shock at the scene before them.

"What know, are you kids also going to try fighting?"

Both Naruto and Haku were snapped back into attention by the deep voice coming from somewhere in front of them. The shadowy outline of a large man started forming in the mist in front of them, and then he stepped out.

It was a hulking man, easily taller than pretty much anyone they had ever seen. His body was covered in a black cloak, though they could see there was something in his back; his face was almost totally covered, with a strange red straw hat—which looked like it was made of some metal—and a white cloth covering the lower part of his face and the sides of his head. All they could see was his eyes, a light brown color that seemed to emanate anger and killing intent.

And at the moment it was directed at them.

"_Shit, this is not going to be good."_

"I am going to be merciful just this time. Tell me where Orochimaru is hiding and I will let you guys get away."

"_Orochimaru?" _That was the thought of both youngsters as they heard the man's request. Didn't they know that Orochimaru had been away?

"Uh, he is not on the base, sir." Said Haku, trying to be a bit polite. If the invaders were only after Orochimaru, maybe they could get them out of here?

The man's glare only intensified hearing this. "So, you trying to protect your master? I will let you guys reunite with him on the afterlife then."

Naruto growled with impatience, seeing that the man was not believing them. "Look, we would be more than happy to give you that fucking snake but he is not in here, got it?"

Han's eyes focused on the boys, feeling something strange about him. There was a brief twitch on his face, and the duo could guess he was smirking.

So much for Haku's expectations…

"If Orochimaru is not in here, then I can just continue destroying those weaklings without worrying about accidently offing him. As thanks, I will kill you children quickly!"

In the next moment, Han's cape seemed to start shaking uncontrollably. Haku jumped backwards to stand on Naruto's side, increasing the distance between herself and the hulking man. With the power of his doujutsu, Naruto could see the man's chakra was flowing intensely and seemed to be starting to spread out of his body; Naruto could see the man had a monstrous amount of chakra. He was starting to question whether they could stand a chance against him.

Extending his hand forward, Han made the first move: from within the sleeves of his cloak a large amount of mist was flowing out at high pressure, soon enough covering the area again and hiding Han from view.

"_This… This is not just mist…"_

As soon as the mist reached the duo, they noticed it was different. It was way too hotter than before, and Haku—not having Naruto's powers and resistance—could feel her skin start to burn. Well, this explained the bodies they had found: they had been burned alive by this _steam._

Naruto was also reaching the same conclusion and a little more, but with a _little help._

_This steam is laced with his chakra, that's how he controls how hot it is! Naruto, you need to stop him now before things get even hotter!_

"_That's not time to crack jokes!" _Naruto fell to a knee, noticing that the temperature was getting higher each moment. He was already sweating, and he could imagine what Haku was passing through this moment. _"How the hell am I going to fight it?"_

_You have more than just eyes, son. That thing in his back is probably what's creating this mist; close your eyes and hear, try locating him and catch him by surprise!_

Naruto did as he was told; closing his eyes, he tried focusing on the sound of the steam. He found it difficult to do so, and shamefully had to admit that this was his fault.

While his senses were more acute thanks to the Kyuubi experiments done on him, he had pretty much ignored them in favor of his vision. He was becoming too dependant on his doujutsus.

And he promised that, if he escaped here, he would correct this mistake.

"_Come on, focus…" _

The sound of heavy breathing; sound of hearts beating way faster than they should; the whizzing sound of the steam as it was being thrown in the air at high pressure; the faint whisper of what seemed like a small furnace, hidden by the shaking of a cloth; the sound of metal hitting metal… All too thin, barely above a whisper, sounds that one would not hear unless you were very close.

His eyes bolted open in the next moment, and what happened next was something Naruto would never forget.

Time stopped.

Or rather, that's how it felt for him.

In front of him was a towering shadow through the steam, showing that the man was indeed very close—or rather, right in front of—him. However, he did not attack nor move. Deciding to use this moment to his advantage Naruto tried to act—only to find that he too was paralyzed. His limbs did not obey him; he tried moving his head and… nothing. He even tried to move his eyes but received the same result: nothing.

Looking forward the only direction he could, he could see that the thin, minuscule drops of water that formed the mist also were unmoving. Even the faint traces of chakra he could see in the steam and on Han's body also seemed to have stopped, which was strange—as far as he knew the chakra was always flowing.

Focusing on himself again, he tried to break free of whatever it was that was stopping him. He felt as if there was someone—or something—pushing him from all sides; he could feel a pressure being applied on his body that he never felt before.

Then he fought against it. Then he did his best to force his way out, pushing back with great intensity.

"AAARRGH!"

Time ran again.

Naruto's body bolted upwards, the pressure seemingly disappearing all at once. He could feel his body hurt a bit after that, his eyes shutting quickly in pain. As he opened them again, surprise was written all over his face.

The mist in front of him seemed to have been blown away, as well as the one around him and Haku. The giant man, who he remembered stood before him a moment ago, was now etched into a wall many meters away; a trail of broken ground going from where he had been standing and where he was fallen now.

Only one thought crossed Naruto's mind as he saw the scene.

"Wow… did I… did I do this?"

A small cough took Naruto back into reality and he quickly came to Haku's side, checking her. She was very sweaty and had some red spots on her skin, signaling burns caused by the steam; her hands were already going over these spots, the glowing green light trademark of medical jutsu showing that she was already working on healing herself. Her leg seemed to be bruised besides the burns; Naruto started feeling guilty as he wondered if this was caused by whatever he did.

"Are you okay, Haku?" Asked Naruto as he helped her on her feet.

"I'm going to be fine" She looked up from her wounds, looking at Naruto's face and then at the scene around them. "How did you do this?"

Sighing, Naruto answered. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Trying to walk forward, Haku managed a few steps before she felt forward. Naruto managed to catch her just in time.

"Thanks." Looking downward, Haku went back to healing her legs, fighting the small blush from her face.

Naruto was oblivious to this. "We better hurry. I don't think he will stay down for too long."

"I am already working on it." A few moments later Haku was on her feet again, managing to run after a while. Soon she and Naruto were going down the hallway again, going past the still fallen Han and turning down on a corridor. The corridor was long and, into the very end, was the final turn before the exit.

It seemed that, from now on, things would be much easier for the pair.

Of course, if things were never that easy.

"Grrr… you… YOU DAMN KID!"

The loud yell made Haku and Naruto stop in their tracks. They turned around carefully, just in time to see part of the wall break and Han emerge from it, not looking very amicable. His cloak was almost totally destroyed, revealing the red armor-like thing under it. In rage, the man removed what was left of it; as they thought, he wore a red armor similar to his hat, with a black gi over it. On his back was a small furnace—as Naruto had suspected—made of the same material.

The same thought occurred to Naruto and Haku at that moment.

"_We are screwed"_

Turning around they went into a mad dash, running as fast as they could. They knew Han was right behind them, if the high-pitched whisper of the mobile furnace was any indication.

Turning her head slightly to the side, Haku managed to catch him with the corner of her eye. He was coming at them at full speed, and she knew he was catching up fast. He left a trail of hot steam on his wake, probably hot enough to melt anyone who passed through it. She was reminded of something she had seen once as a child, while visiting a big city with her father in the Water Country. Even the sound of his furnace was similar.

He was like a steam locomotive.

She could feel her heart beating faster by the moment, and fear started to overcome her. Her legs were not yet ready for such intense motions and she felt like they would give up at any moment.

She knew she would die. And like in that moment, like when she saw her father and the other men kill her mother and try to kill her too, she felt true despair.

She felt hopeless.

Naruto noticed it; noticed how she was slowly falling behind. He could see the pained look on her face and was reminded of her leg from before. He felt it was his fault for it.

And just like that, he was reminded that he promised to protect her at any costs.

"_Oh, what the hell. It's not like I'm going to die anyway."_

In what most would call a suicide action, Naruto stopped and turned, running into Han's direction. Her eyes closed in desperation, Haku didn't see his action; she was pretty much praying to whatever god there may be to help them in this situation.

And just like that, two things happened to them. One good, the other…

As she kept running, Haku opened her eyes in time to see that she was arriving in another turn. Not having enough time to stop, she knew she would run into the wall; she didn't know, however, that her Hyoton powers would emanate in that very instant. Raising her hands as if to shield herself, the moment her finger touched the wall she didn't feel pain but felt a cold surface; in the split second later in which she opened her eye she saw the wall was reflecting her image.

As if it was made of ice.

The next moment, instead of crashing into the wall, she felt like she was being sucked into it. Disappeared inside the ice mirror.

Meanwhile, Naruto went into collision route with Han. Anyone seeing this scene—or even imagining it—could describe the following clash in an epic way. Like, as two jinchuriki clashed, one berserk and hell-bent on destroying everything, the other fighting to protect his loved ones. A clash that had the potential of going down in history…

But sadly I cannot describe it in this way. Mostly because it didn't happen this way.

Naruto was not as strong, nor was him with enough speed to match Han. The result was that, without even flinching or stopping, Han hit Naruto headfirst; the strength of the attack threw Naruto backwards all the way, crashing into the wall behind him. As he was engulfed in pain, he could feel the cold on his surroundings and, opening his eyes, he managed to see his opponent still coming at his direction.

In the split second before he was pummeled by Han, a single thought crossed his mind.

"_I hope Haku is safe… and she better thank me later__."_

* * *

She didn't understand what had just occurred. In a moment she was running for her life and about to crash on a wall, then the wall suddenly turned into ice and, a split second later she was out of the base, face-first in the ground.

Her heart was pumping; she felt like it would jump out of her mouth at any moment. Sitting up, she looked behind her to find something she was slightly unsurprised to see.

Another ice mirror.

Crawling towards it—her legs hurt too much for her to try and stand back up—she cautiously touched it with a finger. It didn't go through like before, but still felt different. She remembered Orochimaru had talked about one of her clan's techniques which created ice mirrors; the user would be able to travel through the mirrors at speeds comparable to that of the light.

Well, this last part could be just hyperbole by the ones who saw the jutsu in action, or maybe some hype created by her clan to scare any possible enemies. But it didn't change the fact that it was impressive.

Orochimaru had tried to help her learn this jutsu, but it didn't produce results. Maybe…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw, through the mirrors, a group approaching her. She turned around, still sitting on the floor, and noticed there were five men.

"What are you doing in a place like this, girl? Got lost or something?" The bigger man, apparently their leader, talked.

Even before she could answer, another man looked at her in fright and pointed at the mirror behind her. "C-Captain Kitsuchi, t-that i-"

"Yeah, I get it already. That's the **Makyo Hyosho**, the trademark of the Mist's Yuki clan."

The other three men looked surprised at what their leader said and carefully drew their kunai, anticipating a fight from the not-so-inoffensive girl. Haku narrowed her eyes, cautiously approaching the mirror; she was not going to attack them first, but she needed to be prepared if they did start a fight.

Their leader, Kitsuchi, seemed to think the same way.

"Now, now, there is no need for a fight. Put your weapons down." He looked at his squad as he addressed them; a look that told them to obey, but keep alert. All four lowered their weapons, though one still seemed like he would jump and attack at the slightest twitch of the girls finger. "Now, girl, can you tell us what you are doing here?"

"I escaped from Orochimaru's base. Where are we, exactly?"

Kitsuchi chuckled. "Well, you didn't go very far. We are just above it."

Before she could say anything else they all heard a strong sound, almost like an explosion, and the ground shook for a moment. Looking at the side—and noticing she was dangerously close to the edge of the mountain—she managed to catch sight of something being thrown at a high speed, a cloud of dust following it and indicating that it was blown from inside the mountain. She could guess it was about the size of a person, and it was thrown with such force that she doubted it could have survived.

Unless…

"Naruto!"

She bolted upwards, ignoring the pain in her legs. It didn't go away, though, and she had to put a hand on the mirror for support.

This was enough of an excuse for the paranoid Iwa-nin to attack, throwing his kunai in her direction.

"_Shit"_

This was the thought that ran through Haku's and Kitsuchi's mind when they saw the movement. The Iwa captain quickly threw his own kunai, managing to intercept the other object before it reached its target.

But the damage had already been done.

Haku spun around to face them, her arm that was being used for support outstretching towards them. The next moment a grunt was heard from two of the men, who fell limp to the floor; a small, thin needle of ice having pierced one of them in the spot between neck and shoulder, and the other having piercing the neck.

"A-Are they…?"

"No, they are just unconscious." Kitsuchi informed his remaining men, after a quick look on the fallen shinobi direction. He was impressed: she had managed to hit spots that would not cripple or kill a person, but just paralyze them. This showed a great deal of medical knowledge; if she knew more of the Yuki clan's techniques, then this would be very troublesome.

Deciding not to give them time for recover, Haku set up another jutsu with a quick set of hand seals. A very useful one, especially concerning her abilities, that Orochimaru had her learn. "**Kirigakure no Jutsu**"

The whisper was unheard by her foes, but the next moment it was easy for them to identify what she had done. Kitsuchi merely grinned at her choice of tactics.

"_It has been quite a while since I fought a Kiri-nin. Let's see if I still remember how to do it._"

* * *

Being blown away at high speed was not something Naruto was fond of. When he went against Han, he didn't expect for the guy to hit him so hard that he would not only be sent through the wall, but all the way outside of the base.

He didn't expect to leave the base like this.

After a few moments he slowly started getting up, coughing, and he looked around. It seemed he was in a mountainous area, like Kabuto had said; he hardly got out of the base, except for the times he trained tree-walking with Kabuto. And that was a long time ago.

Looking back to the mesa where he came from, he couldn't resist the urge to groan: as the dust cleared he could see Han standing there, ready to rush at him again once he caught sight of him. Being the proud/stubborn person he was, Naruto was more than willing to go at it again; however, he had more important matters right now.

He had to find Haku.

"What is the matter, brat? Can't push anymore?"

Shit. Looking back at his foe, Naruto saw that he had jumped down the mesa hole and was walking in his direction now. The steam was being expelled not only from the furnace but also from the plates of his armor, leaving a trail as he walked. It gave him a creepy look, almost as if there was an aura around him.

He had to admit, it was quite awesome. And he guessed it had a strong psychological effect on his opponents too.

_Come on, kiddo. Concentrate!_

Snapping out of his musing, Naruto grinned as he caught sight of something else. High above them, on top of the mesa, was a huge mist. He knew of two persons who had a jutsu like that, and one was in front of him right now. So…

By now Han had stopped walking, the steam spreading around him. Naruto grinned even more as an idea came to him; he would both satiate his want to teach this guy a lesson and rescue Haku with a single move. His hand was already reaching for a seal Kabuto had placed on his right arm, where his scroll rested…

Seeing his movement Han was already in action, dashing forward to attack the boy.

Just what Naruto wanted.

"Sucker!"

As he had outstretched his right arm while reaching for it, Naruto did something Han thought was impossible. A moment the feared Iwa jinchuriki was rushing forward, the next he was having to step back with difficulty to breathe; Naruto's arm had shot forward, his fist smashing right into Han's neck—the only part of his body not protected by his armor.

Taking advantage of his temporary disability, Naruto quickly took the scroll and opened it, unsealing its contents.

The next moment, what seemed like a hurricane of paper sheets were flying into the air, Naruto right in its center. The boy couldn't hold back a smug smirk when he saw the surprised—and slightly amazed—look in Han's face. _"Heh, who is awesome now steam-man?"_

As per Naruto's 'orders', many of the sheets came together to form multiple bird-like constructs. Pointing at Han, the paper birds went flying right in his direction, 'pecking' at him and causing enough of a distraction. The Iwa-nin had little success against them, as the paper seemed to separate to avoid being hit and then reform to attack again; after a while, the paper seemed to start separating and covering his body. After a few moments, he was on the ground, literally covered in paper.

Naruto smirked at his victory and went back to work. Concentrating on the paper left, he made it come together in another form. It was difficult, he had to admit; never before did he have to control that much paper.

But by no means was it impossible.

Soon enough it was there, as he had imagined; okay, not _exactly_ like he imagined, but still pretty similar. A creature he had heard about and had always fascinated him. Might have been a bit little predictable to some, but he had always found to be cool.

There stood a paper dragon.

"_Now I just need to get Haku."_

Jumping on the dragon's back, he was about to take flight when something caught his sight.

There was steam coming out of Han's paper-covered, fallen body.

Naruto had a bad feeling about it, and he had the urge to find cover. The feeling wasn't unjustified: in the next moment the body started rising again, the now wet paper slowly being blown out by the high-pressure steam. As he stood again, almost all paper having already left his body, Han looked even more ominous than before.

The steam around him was thicker than ever and, worse of all, wasn't spreading; it was concentrated around his body. It was almost like it was forming a second skin, forming a figure around his body. And Naruto had an eerie feeling when he saw the steam form something behind the figure.

Something resembling a tail.

The next moment Han disappeared from his sight. Everything after that became a blur in Naruto's memories.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait, folks. I had promised not to take this long; as an apologize, I made a bigger chapter.**

**Anyway, can't really say much right now since I am in a hurry and about to go on another trip; this time to Argentina. A bit more action on this chapter, though still not a full-blown fight(could you guys comment on how it was? I never wrote action scenes in English before). Expect more to come in the next chapter, as well as a few important OCs(don't worry, I won't fill the story with OCs, just 2-3 will be important/recurring) and Kushina finally making an appearence. **

**Since I was in a hurry to get this chapter out before travelling, I had to rush a bit on the end. I actually planned on having Roshi(4-tails jinchuriki) appear too, but guess I will leave it for another time.**

**Anyway, hope you like and once again I apologize. I will stop making promises on the next release date; till then, have a good time.**


	7. Like a Child

**Like a Child**

The figure of Han, his steam forming a shroud around and what looked like a tail behind him, was something that Naruto probably wouldn't forget so easily. That's why when his eyes opened again he instantly checked his surroundings to see if his nemesis was around. He wasn't—which was a relief to the boy—but something else caught his sight.

He wasn't outside in a mountainous environment anymore. He was in a room, but it wasn't any room either: it was his room, from inside the base. The same bed; the same dull, lifeless walls; the same door to the same bathroom…

Naruto blinked, raising his hands to rub his eyes. It was not possible; how could he be back in the base? Had he dreamt all that?

No, it couldn't have been a dream. Sure, he was not feeling pain like he should—after the beating he took from that big guy, even he would be feeling bad in the morning—but all that experience was so real, so vivid… That, and he doubted he could imagine someone like that guy, or the situation he went through. Most of his escape fantasies were far simpler and involved him beating up whoever stood in his way, not the opposite.

Another possibility that crossed Naruto's mind was that the invaders had been repelled. This seemed unlikely considering how easily that guy was dealing with Orochimaru's men, but there always was the possibility that Kabuto brought reinforcements, or maybe Orochimaru himself came back.

It wasn't likely, and didn't make much sense either. But Naruto couldn't think of anything else.

Deciding to keep this assumption for the time being, Naruto remembered another thing. Right before being attacked by Han, he saw that Haku was fighting someone; he didn't know who, nor who was winning, but thinking about it he felt uncomfortable. What if she met someone like that guy? She wasn't immortal, nor did she have his regeneration; worse, she had been injured previously. Feeling more concerned by the moment, he ran to the door—wait, he had been standing all this time?—and down the corridor, determined to find Haku.

Running down the corridors, Naruto felt something strange was up. While visually the place seemed exactly like when he and Haku went around it, it held a somber feeling now; the hallways seemed longer and slightly darker, and even after countless turns and entering rooms and making even more turns… there was no one. The entire place seemed deserted.

It was… too strange. As he kept walking Naruto started feeling nervous.

"Aw, c'mon! There must be someone around here!"

After yelling loudly, as loud as he could, Naruto stood where he was; waiting. Waiting for someone to come over, to check what the sound was.

Waiting for anyone to appear.

But no one came. He kept standing there for what seemed like hours, yet no one came. What was happening? What _had_ happened? Where was everyone? Where was Haku? Unexpectedly, Naruto felt a feeling of despair creep upon him; he couldn't understand the situation, and the thought of being all alone seemed strangely despairing to him now.

As a child, he always wished for something like this to happen. He wished to be left alone, wished for Orochimaru and the scientists to forget about him, even ignore him. Sometimes it seemed to happen, true; most of the time he was left in his cell, but he knew they were always watching. Waiting for the time to make more experiments on him, to use him again like they did to the other children. He would have given anything to be in a situation like the one he found himself now.

Children normally wish for attention, but the way he was brought up made Naruto different. He was forced to mature earlier; he saw what too much attention caused and grew cautious of it.

But even the most mature of adults are prone to acting like children sometimes.

No matter how much you force a child to mature, they will remain a child. They may change on the outside, but they will stay the same deep inside.

And, as if the long-forgotten child inside him woke up, the childish fear of being alone started to overcome Naruto.

_You are not alone…_

The voice felt like a whisper to the blond boy, and he raised his head as he heard it. This time, it was… different. It didn't feel like it came from his head like all other times, but it came from the outside. A few moments later the words were repeated, this time a little louder, and Naruto had the confirmation he needed: the voice echoed through the corridor, showing it was not inside Naruto's head anymore.

Meaning there was someone out there.

Feeling a surge of hope and energy—"_Since when was I so energic?_"—Naruto rushed through the corridors, making turns and following the voice as it grew louder and louder. After going around a corner, he reached a 'landmark' he knew all too well.

From the middle of the corridor onwards there was a path of crushed ground, leading straight into a wall which was also partially destroyed; a big hole the size of a person in it. _"Wasn't it in here that I fought the steam-guy?"_ The corner of his mouth curved upwards forming a small smile: this was the proof that what happened was not just a dream. After reaching the hole in the wall Naruto turned to the side, looking into another corridor. His heart sank when he saw no hole at its end; he remembered being literally punched through the wall and into the outside right there. But there was no hole. _"What the hell is happening around here?"_

As the voice kept echoing around, he kept on his way; making the same path he and Haku had done to escape, he made a turn when he reached the now-inexistent hole and kept forward.

This was the exit of the base Haku had been guiding him to.

This was where the voice was coming from.

* * *

"_I wonder if they managed to escape."_

That was the thought that ran through Kabuto Yakushi's head as he looked back to where he had just come from. Having left the base just before the attack started, he kept thinking about it as he made his trip. After the briefing, he expected Naruto to form something capable of flying in order to leave the place, even more so when he saw its surroundings personally; more than once he caught himself wishing that a huge shadow passed over him, just for him to look up and see Naruto's creation leaving.

The boy's escape would prove to be useful in the future, but right know he had more important things to care about.

Looking around, he had to admit this was a somewhat creepy-looking place for a meeting. Being in a transition area between the mountainous wasteland from where Kabuto came from and the Fire Country's abundant forests, the place was basically a forest of huge, dead trees. They were enormous and hollow, having little to no leafs growing on them, and quite spaced out, a few meters between each tree. Even in the ground there was little vegetation, with a few patches of grass growing here and there, and very few animals around, like that bird on the tree…

Taking a step back quickly, Kabuto avoided just in time the bird's falling crap. How lucky.

"Good. You are early."

Looking up from the bird's now smashed feces, Kabuto was welcomed by the figure of a hunchback man. His straw hat blocked most of his face, leaving only his expressionless eyes, and the rest of his body was covered in a black cloak with red clouds; even then, Kabuto knew very well who it was.

Akasuna no Sasori.

"Were you followed?"

"No, it is safe." Answered Kabuto, who had his own figure hidden by a cloak. "I must say I was a bit disoriented when you lifted the jutsu, Sasori-sama. If I may ask, why did you have me report back after so little time?"

"I have my motives. Now, what have you got for me?"

Having been a spy for Sasori for so long, Kabuto had learned to understand the real meaning behind the missing-nin's few words. He could see that he was expecting something big, and that what he just spoke was actually a threat; Kabuto couldn't help being afraid of this.

"W-Well, with so little time I couldn't advance in my studies of Orochimaru's seals or his 'immortality' technique." There was a brief movement inside Sasori's cloak and in the next moment a metal tail came out of it; it hung menacingly in the air, showing that this was not the answer Sasori wanted. "B-But I have some news. I just came from one of his bases hidden in the wastelands and, apparently, it has just been found out."

Sasori's tail stopped its movement, a sign that he was interested and listening carefully. And, for Kabuto, a sign that he was not going to die so soon.

"A squad of Iwagakure shinobi was going towards the base just as I left and, if the sounds I heard were any indication, they attacked it." He stopped to see if Sasori showed any reaction. There was none; and so, Kabuto continued. "Orochimaru had left that base yesterday and took some of his main experiments, but I was able to secure something that might be of interest for you."

Moving his hand inside his robes, Kabuto pulled out a scroll. Under Sasori's cautious gaze, he threw the scroll in his direction; it was caught midway by the tail, who took it down to eye-level. The puppeteer eyed the scorpion seal in it, recognizing it instantly.

"Yes, that is my puppetry scroll. So, it really was Orochimaru who took it…" He pulled the scroll into his robes, before returning his gaze to Kabuto. "It would seem as if it was lost in the attack, most likely destroyed. I wonder what Orochimaru's use for it was…"

The unasked question hung in the air, Kabuto not really trusting himself to answer. As the tail started moving again, showing Sasori's impatience, he managed to speak. "He used the knowledge on human puppets to help prevent the decay of bodies. It allowed him to protect Kekkei Genkai material, as well as use the dead bodies for-"

"I'm quite aware of the benefits Orochimaru would see in my human puppets, Kabuto." Sasori cut him off, his deep voice showing irritation. "And I'm also aware that you are keeping things from me."

"Wha-"

Before he could try to defend himself, something happened that made Kabuto lose all air in his lungs. As he gasped for air, he managed to look down and see what was causing this: a big centipede-like thing was around him, constricting him. But the thing wasn't totally strange to Kabuto: its color and texture seemed similar to…

"_Shit"_

"I told you to stay back, Deidara."

"Pfff, you are the one who's always complaining about waiting. Hypocrisy much, hn?"

As the centipede loosened its grip, Kabuto was able to—besides recovering his much needed oxygen—turn his head upwards to see the other man. Standing there, crouched on the branch of the hollowed tree alongside the bird from before, was Sasori's partner from Akatsuki.

Deidara.

The blond man merely looked down, waving at him and grinning. What was most disturbing about that scene was that he had a mouth on the palm of his hand; _and it was also grinning at Kabuto._

As the blond jumped down, Sasori voiced his irritation again. "This is my business, brat. I told you to stay away."

"No way! I have as much right to know about Orochimaru's doings as you!"

"No, you don't."

"I do! _I _was the one attacked, wasn't it?"

Sasori showed no outwardly reaction to Deidara's point. This was only wasting time. "Fine, do as you wish. But _I _am the one questioning here, you understand?"

After a nod from the blond man, Sasori returned his attention to Kabuto. The boy seemed amused at their brief banter, but he couldn't hide his increasing nervousness.

"From the look in your face, I see you understand who this man is. Which brings up another question…"

Suddenly the clay centipede tightened again, and Deidara was in front of Kabuto. "What the hell did Orochimaru want attacking me, hn?"

"Deidara!"

Taking advantage of the duo's argument, Kabuto stopped to analyze the situation. A situation that was no good for him.

Ever since Orochimaru broke Sasori's control over him he had managed to find a balance between serving both nins, by not giving vital information about Orochimaru to Sasori and stalling about the information gathering regarding the snake's new experiments. Orochimaru did not ask much other than that and the occasional inquiry regarding the Akatsuki's current doings, such as new members or recent alliances; he could gain it normally through Sasori, without jeopardizing their relationship.

Anyway, there were things Sasori didn't know.

One of them was Naruto.

Of course, Kabuto already suspected Sasori's intentions with such an early call and had planned accordingly; but having Deidara here too would require rethinking. He knew how Sasori acted, and how to act around him: unlike Orochimaru, who employed a poison-laced charisma to get what he wanted from others—convincing them on joining him, preying on their ambitions, inducing possible spies into revealing themselves and changing sides—, Sasori was more brutal and direct. He did not care about subtlety, he merely pressed others for the information he wanted. His rough voice and his puppet's face, that made it seem like he was always angry, helped a lot in his intimidation act.

Or maybe he was only like that with Kabuto. It would be difficult to maintain a spy network like he had through mere physical threatening; Kabuto theorized that Sasori studied his spies to find their weak spots, and preyed on them accordingly in order to 'motivate' them and maximize their effectiveness. The physical threatening was probably what he believed worked best on Kabuto.

Going back to the matter at hand, Deidara could destroy Kabuto's plan. While he was sure he could convince Sasori that there was nothing wrong, he had no idea on how perceptive Deidara was: he could be able to see through Kabuto's deception, or even have some knowledge about the Bakuton that would make his explanation crumble. The only thing he knew was that the man was trigger-happy, meaning the blond probably wouldn't give him another chance if he was found lying.

But there was no other choice right now.

He would have to risk it.

* * *

"Where are they?"

Receiving the answer from the nurse the small man went down the hospital hall, the people opening way for him to pass. Seeing the small old man in there wasn't exactly new, but seeing him walking through there with such a look of determination instead of one of pain made them see that they would better not cross the Tsuchikage right now.

Onoki didn't even pay attention to them; actually, he probably didn't even notice they were there. He was focused on the door at the end of the hall, the door where _they_ were…

_So, let me get this straight: Orochimaru was not in that base?_

_That is right. But-_

_Then get out of here! This whole ordeal was just a waste of time, a failure!_

_I wouldn't say that, _Tsuchikage-sama.

_So? You secured something from his experiments? We have attacked him before and found that, without him or someone else who worked in that, his projects are of no use. Unless you found something useful, then this operation was a waste of time._

_Just read this file, okay? We took it from Orochimaru's lab. If you change your mind, I will be at the hospital._

"Knew you would change your mind, Tsuchikage-sama."

Onoki glared at the brawny shinobi as soon as he opened the door, but paid no attention. Kitsuchi merely grinned as he saw the small Kage start to levitate in order to get a better view of the people on the hospital room. There were four beds, each one with an unconscious occupant; Onoki noticed that all of them were kids, most likely around 9-11 years old.

On one bed there was a boy lying on his side. He was different from everything Onoki had seen before: he had a head protruding from his upper back, almost from behind his neck. Both heads had bluish/grey hair, and the boy's body looked like it had once seen better days. Though he was not a medic, Onoki knew that the boy needed to be treated carefully; he seemed almost malnourished, and he could guess that the boy needed more energy than a normal person with this extra appendage. Of course Orochimaru would know to treat better someone with a Kekkei Genkai or whatever the boy's ability was, so why was the boy like this?

Deciding to think about it later, Onoki turned to the other beds. Two of them were occupied by girls: at first sight, they seemed perfectly normal. One was dark-haired, her hair growing a bit past her shoulders. She seemed to be the older of the bunch, and the one in the best physical condition.

On the other bed was another girl, this one probably 1-2 years younger than the other two. Like the boy she seemed in a bad state, though not as much. Her hair was green and, although it wasn't long, it seemed quite voluminous: they made natural bangs on the sides of her face, with a few lose strands falling on her face. Her clothes were very simple looking and were mostly ragged.

"What can you say about those three?"

Kitsuchi went closer, noticing that Onoki refrained from looking at the last bed. He could see the Tsuchikage was anxious to see the boy, but wanted to first understand the other three.

"Can't say for sure about them. These two were found by Ittan and some others while investigating the base. According to his report, they were with a bunch of other children in cells; these two seem to be the only ones who survived long enough to receive medical attention." Onoki nodded, showing his understanding. "We are not sure about the boy's mutation, and we don't know if the girl has anything else. The black-haired girl, though," Kitsuchi pointed at Haku's unconscious form "showed some skills; I believe she might interest you quite a bit."

"Why do you say so?" Onoki asked impatiently. He just wanted the man to finish the report so he could look at the other 'finding'; he had a feeling Kitsuchi was being obnoxious on purpose.

"Besides the fact she fought like a Kiri shinobi, hidden mist and all?" The Iwa shinobi smirked. "She used ice mirrors"

Onoki quickly got interested, turning to face Kitsuchi before looking incredulously at the girl. "How did Orochimaru… Are you sure about it?"

"Yes, I found her myself. She is quite skilled, though I doubt she has much knowledge on her bloodline powers..."

Onoki kept his eyes on the girl as he heard Kitsuchi talk. It was unlikely for her to have been trained by or even have met her clan; the Yuki clan was already being persecuted long before the purges as it was considered 'cursed'. Orochimaru, too, was unlikely to have enough knowledge on their jutsu to train the girl to her full potential.

That is not to say that he had. He had met Hyoton users in the past, and remembered a few of their abilities, but being taught by someone who used them was different than by someone who merely observed them —unless it was a Sharingan user, which Onoki wasn't.

She was a good finding, true, but the main prize was another one…

He turned away from the girl and looked at the last bed. There, laying unconscious, was the true motive for him being there. Orochimaru's experiment captured during the attack, and jinchuriki of the Kyuubi.

Naruto Uzumaki.

"_Uzumaki. Didn't think I would hear that name again."_

"Decided to finally kill your curiosity, old man?"

Once again ignoring Kitsuchi's comment, Onoki looked over the boy. The first thing he noticed was the condition his body was in.

"He fought Han." Kitsuchi's answer to his unasked question was enough. "And believe me, his body was way worse when he got here. That boy got an amazing regenerative power."

Even without seeing him before—when he was 'worse'—Onoki could believe in Kitsuchi's words. The boy's body was very burned, to the point it seemed to lack skin in some areas. Still, he could see a bit of the boy's appearance, matching with the file Kitsuchi had given him earlier.

His spiky, white hair that was eerily similar to Jiraiya's. Onoki briefly wondered if the boy had become a jinchuriki for some kind of connection with the Sannin.

His skin seemed more burned on one half of his body. This, alongside the patches of visible skin, showed that the boy's body seemed to have two different colored halves.

The few stitches that seemed to be appearing on his body matched the info on the report too, specially the bit about it helping his regeneration.

Then, there was the mere fact he was still alive after what happened. If he was not immortal, he was very close to.

All of the Akatsuki's powers on one being… Onoki was impressed. He had never seen all of them, but he could recognize some and the others were written on the report. Remembering the information on it, the old Tsuchikage felt oddly nervous as he approached the unconscious boy to check one last thing.

The most important of his powers.

Lifting the boy's eyelids, he watched his eyes in shock and amazement.

Such a sight could make bad things happens to a man as old as Onoki. However, Onoki wouldn't dare to succumb to any old age ailment right now; no, he instead stood strong and did the only reasonable thing he could.

Going back to the floor, he turned his back to the four beds and started walking out of the room. With such a treasure on Iwagakure's hands, he had no time to stand still contemplating it or to accompany the kids on a hospital bed. He had to start acting fast.

Kitsuchi smirked as he left. The old man wouldn't admit it, but he knew he was feeling like a children again.

A happy children.

* * *

Walk.

Naruto didn't know how long he kept doing it.

The only thing he knew was that he found no exit.

Instead of the mountains that surrounded the base, he kept seeing the dark walls; instead of feeling the earth underneath his feet, he kept walking over the floor of the base. What the hell was happening?

Finally, Naruto stopped. He didn't feel tired—_"Strange"_—nor did he have an idea. He just stopped trying: looking forward, the hall seemed to extend forever like an infinite corridor; looking behind, he saw the same thing. The despair he felt turned into a feeling of hopelessness, he had given up and could only pray for it to be a nightmare.

And for him to wake up, with someone at his side.

Even if it was the steam-guy; he didn't mind at this point.

"**You should be careful with what you wish for, boy."**

Naruto jumped at the voice, looking around frantically. He couldn't see anyone, but the voice wasn't an echo: it was more like a big roar, someone—or something—near him.

"**Look more closely, and you might find me."**

As if following the voice's order Naruto stood up—since when had he been on the floor?—and slowly turned around, examining his surroundings. There was nothing different: the infinite corridor, the dark walls, the infinite corridor on the other side, more dark walls, a dark pillar…

Wait…

Naruto stepped back in shock. As he completed a full turn and stood looking back at where he had been before, the whole place seemed to have changed. Gone were the corridors, and now he stood in the middle of a giant, empty room. In front of him there were what, at first, Naruto thought were pillars; by their position, though, they looked more like bars of a cell.

"What the fuck is happening around here?"

How… How could a place change like this?

He remembered Kabuto told him that shinobi could create illusions using their chakra. Maybe the steam-guy had placed him in one?

Naruto didn't have time to think more about it as a gigantic red claw smashed against the bars. The unexpected event caused Naruto to fall to the floor; once in there, he looked back to see that, behind the bars, there was what looked like a red mist. The claw slowly receded back into it.

"Wh-What the fuck?"

The mist seemed to solidify itself, forming an image Naruto didn't expect. Standing before him now was a giant fox, its multiple tails swinging behind it and its head looking upward. All of a sudden, it snapped downwards; its red, slanted eyes looking directly at Naruto. The blond could feel its malice; it was almost intoxicating, and he caught himself trembling as he looked into the eyes of the beast. He felt an odd urge to run away and hide, to try and forget the sheer evil he was feeling right now.

Yet, at the same time, he felt like staying. He couldn't understand, but he felt a stubborn urge to stay and stare back; like a children who doesn't realize the danger of a situation and, out of stubbornness, refuses to obey orders. Unconsciously, the iris of his eyes turned a bloody red and three tomoe appeared in it; the Kyuubi's eyes narrowed even more at this, focusing more and more of its malice on the boy. Naruto tried to glare back with as much intensity, but he knew he was losing this battle.

The Kyuubi smirked as it kept its glare at the boy. **"You have guts, brat. I will enjoy eating them when I get out of here."**

…_when I get out of here…_

Suddenly, something clicked on Naruto's mind. Averting his gaze from the beast, he looked at its tails and counted the number: nine.

"Th-That's it! You… You a-are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"

He was stuttering. WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON WITH HIM?

The fox had a devilish smirk on its face. Not one of mischief, but one of pure evil. **"So, you aren't as stupid as I thought."**

Naruto kept his eyes away from the fox's, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"_But, if the fox is in here, then where is _here_?"_

The Kyuubi snarled. **"I take back what I said." **Then, for a moment, the fox noticed how close Naruto was to the cage. Close enough that it could catch him with a tail, tear him apart, make the promise from before turn real… And with him out, his body would be free for the beast to take.

Concentrating on the problem at hand, Naruto was paying no notice to this until he felt a powerful gust of wind. Looking up, he saw as the Nine-Tailed Fox seemed to be thrown back by it—and idly noticed that one of its tails seemed to have been reaching out of the cell. It jumped up again, letting out a fearful roar that almost made Naruto fall backwards.

The next moment, however, Naruto stood in amazement as lights started appearing inside the fox's cage. The Kyuubi growled more as it saw them and in the next moment one of the lights shot forward, hitting the beast and forcing it into the ground. As the fox tried to stand, the other lights followed suit, striking at it and forcing its tails and claws to stay on the floor. His eyes adjusting to the brightness of the light, Naruto was shocked to see that the light was, in reality, chains.

Chains made of chakra.

Its head forced into the ground, the Kyuubi opened one of its eyes. Naruto could see the hate in them as it looked in his direction, but something else caught his eye. Reflecting on the fox's eye was not only him, but something else behind him…

"I told you I wouldn't let you reach Naruto."

Naruto turned around quickly, recognizing the voice; it was the same voice that would talk to him, and the voice that called him there. What he saw was a bright glow, like an aura of light, but he could tell there was someone inside it.

"**You can't do this to me! If you don't let me out, I _will _make your child suffer even more than I planned to!"**

"_Your child…?"_ A shocked Naruto kept his eyes on the figure, noticing it was walking closer to him and the cage. _"Who is that person?"_

"You are in no position to make threats, fox. Actually, you should just keep your mouth shut."

"**You can't do this to me, you b-!"** The Kyuubi was silenced as more chains appeared, this time from the ground, and circled its nose; suddenly they tightened, forcing the fox's mouth closed. They formed something similar to a muzzle.

"Well, now that the fox won't meddle anymore…" The figure turned to look at Naruto, who seemed amazed yet confused about the situation. "I may guess how strange this is for you, but believe me, you will get used to it."

"Who are you?" Naruto asked with uncertainty.

"I heard it the first time you asked. I will give you a hint."

Naruto didn't have time to ask what it meant, as the bright light that surrounded the person seemed to intensify to the point he had to raise his arm to protect his eyes. As it started dying out, Naruto cautiously looked again. The bright aura had disappeared, allowing him to fully see the figure.

He didn't expect what he saw.

The 'figure' revealed itself to be a woman. She had a fair skin, violet/blue eyes and quite a feminine face. She wore a pretty sleeveless dress, with a high-collar and… was that an apron? Being a 10 year old, Naruto's only way to describe her was that she was very pretty, more so than Haku; but what really caught his eye was her hair. A long, bright red hair that really amazed Naruto as he had never seen something like that.

He was glad to be able to see the figure, but that didn't answer the question of wh-

"…_your child…_"

Naruto's eyes widened as realization struck him. The woman smiled as she looked in Naruto's eyes, seeing that it was starting to water.

She crouched down as Naruto ran at her, throwing himself on her arms; she smiled as she held him in her arms, caressing his hair as he cried on her and desperately held on her as if his life depended on it. "M…Mom…"

"Shhh… It's okay, I'm here. You aren't alone, Naruto; not now, not never." She said, kissing the top of his head.

They stood like that for some time, neither really wanting to let go of the other.

Meanwhile, the Kyuubi closed its eyes, deciding that getting some sleep would be more beneficial than watching its damn vessels meeting.

Naruto leaned back, breaking their embrace to look at his mother's face. She too looked at him, her hand moving to caress his face. "You really take after me, son. But you have your father's beautiful hair."

"Really?" Naruto chuckled, swallowing the lump on his throat and bringing an arm to wipe his eyes. "Heh, too bad it isn't blond anymore then…"

"Well, at least in here it is."

Stopping what he was doing, Naruto was about to ask what she meant when he caught sight of something. Bringing up his other arm, he compared both his hands: they weren't differently colored, they were the same.

He was normal. And a surge of happiness rushed over him as he thought of it.

"You always were." Naruto looked up, seeing his mother smiling at him. "Well, all this happening and I forgot to answer your other question. Where are we… Considering the fox over there" a muffled sound, similar to a snarl, came from the supposedly-asleep beast "I ask you: where do you think we are?"

"Hm… In my belly?" Naruto knew it was improbable, but considering the seal was in there…

Kushina let out a loud laugh, surprising Naruto. The boy too couldn't help but laugh a little, infected by his mother's laugh. Regaining her composure, she answered with a smile on her face.

"Close enough. We are in your mindscape; your subconscious, to be more precise."

…

…Well, this kind of explained all the strange things that were happening.

Naruto didn't know how to react. However, one question started to cloud his mind.

"What am I doing here? Well, you see…" Kushina stopped as she saw the astonished look on Naruto's face. She hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. "Oh, sorry, it's kinda rude to interrupt your thought. You see, since we are at your mind, I can hear what you think too. It's like your voice in amplified for the entire mind to hear."

…Well, that explained why his thoughts seemed louder than before.

"Yeah, it does. Anyway… Well, I exist in your mind, Naruto. Where can I start…? I will try to simplify things. I tend to talk too much sometimes, and if you are like me you probably won't want to hear it all; at least not now." She chuckled.

"Your birth wasn't a very conventional one. I… was the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi before you. During birth the seal naturally weakens; this and some other… _inconveniences_… ended up letting the fox free. It attacked the village we lived in, and everyone did everything they could to stop it… Until your father did it. He saved us all, me, you, the village… In the end he gave his life to weaken the Kyuubi and seal the rest of it inside you, to protect you… Yes, I know that the damned fox would prefer to eat you than to protect you…" the Kyuubi made a movement with its head, signaling that she was right. "But, as an Uzumaki and, above all, our son… we knew you would be able to find a way to use it."

"He sacrificed himself to do it, but he left a parting gift. I was dying too… I know how it is, the burden of carrying that thing inside you… We didn't want you to be alone… So he sealed some of my chakra on you, so that I could appear to you when you needed most. It was supposed to be a one-time thing but… Something… Something strange happened. Something that Orochimaru put in you, one of his 'experiments', strengthened my chakra and gave me life again… Inside you."

As Kushina finished, she took a deep breath. Being a talkative person, it was difficult for her to leave out so many _important _details; she pretty much forced herself to make stops all the time. She looked at Naruto, waiting to see how he reacted. He had his head down; when he raised it, she could see he seemed on the verge of tears.

"I-I love you mom… and I love dad too…"

Kushina smiled; a genuine, yet sad, smile. She knew he had a difficult life, but in a different way than they had expected. Had it been different, had he stayed in the village, he would probably have hated them.

Still, she would have preferred for him to hate them than to have suffered like he did.

But destiny had a strange way of doing things. Had Orochimaru not interfered, Naruto would probably have made friends that would help him through the difficulties he would face; but, with Orochimaru's interference, something more than friends was in need. Naruto would need someone who could love and stand by his side even more than a friend would.

He would need his parents. His mother.

And, exactly because of Orochimaru's interference, his mother had been born again; this time even closer to him. She was alive, inside him.

"Just remember: I will always be here, no matter what. Anything you want, whenever you want someone to talk to, I will be here. I love you, Naruto."

They stayed there for God knows how long; talking, hugging, or just being near each other. There were many things Naruto wanted to know, about her past, his father, his birth… Kushina answered everything, smiling as she looked at her son's expressions, freeing herself to talk as much as she wanted to. Naruto didn't complain; rather, they both laughed at each others antics and enjoyed their little time together.

Because, when you have lost ten years, a month together was too little time.

* * *

**Well, I am finally posting again, and just in time for Christmas. I guess this is my Christmas present for all of you who like this story and wanted it updated, and once again I apologize for the wait. I greatly thank everyone who kept reviewing/PMing, favoriting, and all around reading this story(look for the hidden message on the last phrase of the chapter :P ).**

**I could blame many things for the late update. Busy life, having to study a lot for school, final tests and finally finishing high school, tests for university(don't know how it is in your countries, but here in Brasil it's a pain), the fact I got addicted to cinema(god, don't know how I lived** **without seeing Sergio Leone's, Ingmar Bergman's and specially Stanley Kubrick's movies) and my own laziness. Seriously, I have the whole story already(even the ending) but I just can't seen to write it down.  
I almost thought about giving up on fanfiction, as I found myself preferring to use my computer time watching movies rather than writing. It might seem strange, but a review I got a few days ago for a story I wrote at the beginning of the year made me feel bad. Made me feel bad about not writing, and especially about not carrying out some promises I made to people here. So, It gave me the motivation to write again and I managed to complete this chapter(I wrote the end of the hospital scene and the whole last part yesterday).  
/true story.**

**Anyway, on story related comments:  
-I found it extremely difficult to write the hospital scene as I am not sure how to characterize Onoki and Kitsuchi; that's why I ended up rushing that part a bit. If anyone has tips/advice on how to write them, please tell me.  
-The green haired girl in that scene was Kagero Fuuma; she appeared in one of the filler arcs. I needed someone else to appear in there but didn't want it to be an OC; and someone suggested her for the story. I watched the episodes she appeared in, and decided to include her. Sorry if my description wasn't that good.  
-Regarding Kushina, well, I wonder if some of you expected it. I thought the chain things were a dead give-away, so I included the 'yellow flash' in chapter 3 and people thought it was Minato :P. I have problems in disregarding some things from canon, and having Kushina be fully alive would be changing too much of the series backstory; as such, I _twisted_ dracohalo117's challenge a bit and found a loophole to work with. If he is reading this, well, what do you think?  
-Still on Kushina, she was also difficult to write. One of the flaws I see on the other Perfection stories is the way they characterize her, so I was a bit fearful on writing her. Believe me, I reread the manga chapters she appeared in so many times, I have pretty much memorized everything in them. Can anyone give feedback on this?**

**Once again, I deeply apologize to everyone who was kept waiting for this update, and hope you like it. Reviews are always welcome, especially with feedback on the story(even if it's just criticism). Merry Christmas to all!**


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